Queenstown is the place to be in New Zealand. This little town in the South Island is packed full of adventure activities, options for day trips, bars, hostels, and beautiful scenery. I had heard a lot of hype about it, and it lived up to... well, most of that (I'm still not sold on the nightlife).
I spent over a week here and kind of wish I’d been able to settle and work for awhile, but most backpackers want the same thing, and there are fewer jobs to go around than in the city. I feel like I made the most of my time though!
Day 1 Kawarau Bridge, Fergburger, & Bar-hopping
We headed towards Queenstown from Wanaka, stopping at a roadside fruit and veggie stand on the way where I finally noticed the leaves on the trees were all changing and it looked like fall. The season definitely added to the beauty of the town. I hadn’t seen autumn in a long time at this point, so I was excited!
We also stopped at the AJ Hackett Bungee headquarters just next to the historic Kawarau Bridge. We watched a video on the history of bungee jumping and then (being that everyone on the Kiwi Bus is mental) lined up to book our own. Not like it was mandatory or anything, but almost everybody signed up for one. The Queenstown area is home to the highest bungee in Oceania, the Nevis. If you’re going to bungee in New Zealand, this is the one to do. I was scared shitless, but I still had a few days before I’d be launching myself off a platform, so I figured I’d pay then and worry about it later.
Chris, who clearly had expendable cash after four months of farm work in Australia, decided to sign up for not one but TWO bungees for the week, starting with jumping off the bridge we were right next to. The Kawarau Bridge is the site of the world’s first commercially operated bungee jump, and it was a pretty place to do it. The bridge was old and picturesque with a turquoise blue river down below. I was happy to stand on the side and photograph.
After that, we finally pulled into Queenstown. I was immediately in love. The town is really quaint with a lake on one side and mountains surrounding the rest. The only downside was that although the colorful leaves made everything prettier, it was May and starting to get very chilly that far south, especially at night.
We stayed at Nomads, and it was an awesome, high-quality hostel. Our six-bed dorm was ensuite with a balcony, the common room had a fireplace, pool table, and comfy couches, and they offered a free meal every night in the kitchen (the line would be looped around the room waiting for it though).
There’s a famous burger place in Queenstown called Fergburger, so I headed out that evening with a group of people to see what it was all about. The shop is too small for almost anyone to sit in, so it’s mostly a line out the door to order then wait to hear your number.
We found some nearby benches in a grassy area to sit and eat. They had two veggie options, so first I tried the Holier than Thou spicy satay tofu burger with aioli. It was massive and delicious. I fully endorse Fergburger.
I had my first night out experiencing the Queenstown nightlife that night, and I really believe this is the only part of Queenstown that wasn’t all it was made out to be. Maybe I’m biased because I think Wellington has the coolest and most accessible bar scene in the country, but Queenstown just felt second-rate. Not many bars really stood out to me, and a lot of them were fairly small.
We hit up the Base bar, Loco, first where I ran into two girls I used to room with at Base Wellington. Next was The Find which everyone on my bus seemed to latch onto that week, but I was not a fan at all. It was crowded and basic.
Just know that I’m skipping over day 2 because it solely involved hangovers and regret.
Day 3 & 4
Flight Changes, Drinks, & Cookies
I spent a couple of days settling in and continuing to go out and party. I discovered that the biggest downside of Queenstown is the lack of an affordable, decent-sized grocery store. Generally around NZ you can find New World, Countdown, or Pak n Save, but Queenstown only had a Four Square which is basically like an overpriced, glorified convenience store.
But the prettiness makes up for the shopping options.
I also spent well over an hour on the phone changing my flights back to the US. I had made the dire mistake of planning too far ahead. Back in March, when I’d first gotten my job at the Ave, I had decided with a steady paycheck for the next two months, I could afford to finish the South Island and finally go home. I had actually booked flights to Fiji first, planning to spend a few days there as a stopover on the way.
Then I met Lewis, decided to stick around, and now I had not one, but two separate flights to change. I had been meant to fly out of Christchurch in about a week. I also had no idea when I was now going to leave, so I just randomly picked a date in August, changed it to depart from Wellington, and paid a few hundred dollars that I definitely could not afford to lose. Along with this, I had borrowed money from my brother for these flights (literally the only time I had borrowed money while away too aside from once in Melbourne for an apartment down payment), so I had to push off paying him back since I now would not be home for another couple months . In the end, it all was changed though and I had three more months in New Zealand. Of course, I’d end up coming back after that and in reality staying another full year from this time, but lesson learned. I knew I had a bad feeling when I committed to those flights initially.
I discovered a couple new bars including the next door Searl Ave which was easily the cheapest place to drink in Queenstown with $3 happy hour beers. We also had a Hell Pizza next door to Nomads which I was very excited about being that it’s one of my favorite NZ chains.
On night 4, I walked over to Cookie Time with a big group at 7:00 for cookie happy hour which is just as awesome as it sounds. Two for one cookies! We then came back to the hostel, went into the cinema room to curl up on beanbag chairs with our duvets, and watched Team America. Probably the most innocent time you can have with a bunch of Kiwi Bus delinquents.
Day 5 Botanic Gardens & Fear Factory
I went out with my roommates Alex and Emma on Thursday to explore the town. We walked through the botanic gardens and I couldn’t believe how many colors there were. The trees were gorgeous and there was a little river with ducks that ran under a tiny footbridge.
Afterwards, we went to the Fear Factory in the middle of town. They claimed to be the scariest haunted house in New Zealand, and I was not disappointed. What really made it scary was that the staff are allowed to touch you. We walked in a line holding onto each other, and I was in the back.
It was pitch black inside, so we couldn’t see where we were or where we were going. We’d run into walls and had no sense of direction. All of a sudden I would just hear somebody whisper right in my ear or feel a hand brush through my hair. Every once in awhile a random strobe would flash and someone would just be standing right in front of us. One area just had a lone streetlamp in a dark hallway. It was legitimately creepy! At the end, there were a bunch of strobes flashing and we had to walk down a hall of chain link fences with people reaching through. After having my legs grabbed for the tenth time, I was pushing forward screaming into the other two to get them to move faster. The whole thing only took about 20-30 minutes, but it was actually scary and so much fun!
The Kiwi Ex kids had a night out that night at Searl Ave, the stupid Find, tiny Boiler Room, and Buffalos, the only bar in Queenstown I actually liked. It had a fire heater and a little area with sand like a beach. It was the only really decent night out I had there actually. Everyone wore costumes and it was a good time.
I may appear to be wearing a costume as well, but I assure you I am the only one in this photo who is not.
Day 6 The Nevis Bungee (!!!)
To say that I was nervous about bungee jumping would be an understatement. I was vaguely nervous when I did my skydive. I was absolutely petrified when I did my first bungee jump. Why is a skydive less nerve wracking than a bungee? A few reasons, really. I trust a parachute more than a glorified rubber band, first of all. Secondly, knowing that you’re meant to land on the ground after skydiving is somehow more reassuring than trying to trust said rubber band to keep you from hitting the ground. And finally and most importantly, with skydiving, you are actually being pushed out of the plane with by a professional who will be strapped to your back for the duration. When bungee jumping, you have to make the conscious decision yourself to jump to what would be your death were it not for the cord strapped around your ankles.
So I hazily came to early that day, was about to lay my head down to go back to sleep, remembered I was about to launch myself off a platform in a matter of hours, and was wide awake the rest of the morning.
In the afternoon, Chris and I walked over to the AJ Hackett office in town where they weighed us, then the bus took us on the half hour drive to the jump site. I was terrified. We finally reached a big, winding hill up to the top of the canyon.
See that pod hanging off the wire in the back? That's where you jump.
They put us into harnesses, then we traveled across the chasm on a platform pully to reach the suspended box on a cable we’d be jumping out of 134 meters above the rocky brown canyon floor and Nevis River. The place even looks bleak.
Strangely, I felt less nervous once we were actually in the jump pod. I think it was a combination of having the safety equipment on and watching other people jump before me. At that point, I just wanted to get it over with. Actually, I ended up being the last jump of the day.
They had me sit down while they attached the rope, and I chatted to the guy there. By now, I was just laughing because I was such a bundle of nerves.
I hopped my way over to the tiny steel platform over the canyon. Looking out at all the empty space in front of me, it felt very real. They said they would count down from 5, but it actually went something like, “5… 4… (start over) 5…” It felt like ages before they hit 1 and I could finally leap off that thing. I was literally shaking at this point. I was 134 meters above the ground. That’s about 440 feet. That’s very, very high up.
I was gone the second they hit the end of the countdown, and I actually nailed a pretty nice swan dive off! So, congratulations, me.
You may think 8.5 seconds of free falling would be over quick, but those were the longest, most vivid 8.5 seconds of my life. I must have actually been in the air for 2 seconds before I realized I was STILL falling and had a long way still to go, then I screamed, then I still had time to calm down and realize how cool this all was before I hit the end of the rope and it pulled me back up.
The recoil was actually the worst part of the experience. It felt a little like your eyes were being pulled out of your head. You get to bounce a few more times after that which is a bit less intense. I just had my head craned back spinning around and looking at the awesome scenery going “Whoaaa.”
Unfortunately, all the grace of my swan dive was negated when I couldn’t get the fucking foot straps to release which would allow you to sit up comfortably like a dignified person while they pull you all the way back up to the top. I also had this fear of accidentally pulling on something important and spiraling to my death, so I didn’t try too hard when it didn’t work the first time. Instead, I had to hang upside down trying to avoid the blood rushing to my head while they dragged me back up.
But wow! I could not stop smiling the rest of the way home! I was absolutely buzzing on adrenaline, it was such a cool rush.
We got our free t-shirts, ordered photos and videos, then rewarded ourselves with a Fergburger (I tried the falafel one this time) when we got back to Queenstown.
Day 7 Milford Sound
This is one of those “must-sees” that I felt like I’d regret missing while in the area even though it cost money I didn’t want to spend for the day trip. And it was good. I liked it. But I’m not sure it was as spectacular as it’s made out to be. A lot of the scenery reminded me of what we’d just seen on the West Coast.
Anyway, we were up at 7:30 AM to catch a bus out. I napped on the ride there until we reached the Milford area and I woke up to check out the pretty scenery. There were little waterfalls cascading down off the rock walls, although it wasn’t as dramatic as I guess it can be when raining since we had a very sunny day.
After stopping at a few spots near lakes, fields, and streams, we reached the boat terminal around noon. It was a nice cruise around the Milford Sound, but also a little pricey for what you got (which is basically just the bus and boat transport).
And like... gorgeous scenery, I guess.
The most beautiful thing was a massive waterfall cascading down the rocks.
On the return loop, we saw a seal on the rocks, then we went right up to one of the waterfalls so all this sea spray was flying at us.
It was definitely a beautiful day out, but you could easily save money by driving yourself if you’ve got a car.
I’m going to skip over days 8 & 9 because they were uneventful aside from a visit to the church across the street (occasionally I just feel the need for a good Sunday service in my life).
Day 10 Gondola
I had a nice final day in Queenstown. I still hadn’t been up the gondolas to see the famous view from the top, so I went with my English roommate Eva. We paid for the gondola ride to the top as well as two rides on the luge track.
The view up there was spectacular. You can see little Queenstown spread out below you on the water.
From there, you take a ski lift to the luge track. If you read my Rotorua blog, you know what this is like. You get a little cart that you control the speed of with the handlebars.
We did the beginner course, then the advanced course. The advanced was so much fun with lots of curves. Zooming down the little road and through tunnels all while next to this beautiful view was really cool.
I had one last night out with my roommates that night, lost one of them to a group of guys after Searl Ave, was turned away from Buffalo by a German bouncer who thought Eva was too drunk, flipped off said German bouncer, realized at Loco that Eva WAS in fact too drunk, got a pie at Ferg Bakery, and headed home.
I left the next morning. Queenstown was a great spot, but I was ready to head back to Welly. One more South Island entry to go covering the east coast, then I'll give a big rundown of my NZ home.