New Zealand - Haast to Queenstown

OK - so after a weeks break to get the old creative juices flowing I'm back to regale you with more awe inspiring tales of my journey so far (either that or I got lazy or maybe my few remaining brain cells were destroyed by the recent Paddy's Day celebrations.....I'll leave you to make up your minds which is the more likely)

So after a night on the beach it was time to bid a fond farewell to Haast and make our way on to Queenstown - the adventure capital of NZ. Basically any adrenalin sport you can think off is available here and chances are were probably invented here too!

Our journey there took us over Haast Pass through the mountains and on through Mount Aspiring National Park which again afforded us spectacular views before reaching the lakes of Hawea and Wanaka. Our driver managed to fool a few of the people on the bus by pointing out the 'Whale tracks' in Lake Wanaka prompting a few people to glue their faces to the window trying to spot the whales in the fresh water lake.......I hasten to add that I was not one of them! Got days of amusement out of that one - you know when you just can't let it go!

Anyway we stopped off in Wanaka where it was time to say goodbye to some good friends made along the way as they were hopping off and I was staying on, sad but by now I was well used to it. Wanaka itself is a pretty little town set right on the Lake as you'd expect by the name - the sun was shining, the shorts were on and the locals were shielding their eyes from the bright white light reflecting off my legs! After a couple of hours chilling and eating whatever I could get my hands on (no breakfast, early start) we made our way onto Queenstown via a stop off at the world famous A J Hackett bungy site which is situated in the Kawarau gorge. It is where the first commercial bungy site in the world opened and its pretty cool - a 43m jump off a bridge plumetting towards the sparkling blue water and enough rocks to give you a graze or 2 should something go wrong.....about 7 of us had a go but unfortunately I wasn't one of them - didn't want to chance my knobbly knees or dodgy back - it wasn't, I reiterate IT WASN'T that my self-preservation instincts kicked in and told me there was absolutely no sane reason to go jumping off a bridge at all! Ah well there’s plenty of time left should I decide to actually go for it.....

Half an hour later we got to Queenstown and let the party begin!

I don't need to let you know what went on in Queenstown - its worldwide reputation as a party town speaks for itself, lets just say it didn't disappoint. Unfortunately for one of our lot a smashed elbow resulting from an attempted somersault of a wall at 3.30am meant a trip to the hospital and an early return to Holland!

He'll be remembering that one for a while (I believe he's still having corrective surgery....)

Queenstown is also a pretty good place to just chill out - the Lake is beautiful as are the Botanical Gardens - in fact you can play a 9 hole frisbee golf game around the park, and I should know......I was quietly lying in the grass minding my own business reading a book when WHACK I got a frisbee in the head! Red mist descended around the eyes and the frisbee ended up a long way away from the direction of the owners of said frisbee.....ah well they looked like they needed the exercise anyway. They apologised - I swore mildly and turned the air a more vivid shade of blue!

Also took a trip up on the Gondola (cable car) to the top of Bob's Peak which is the highest point to view the city (the gondola is supposedly the highest and steepest in the southern hemisphere) where the views were once again stunning - views over the lake and surrounding mountains, once again we were treated to a beautiful hot clear day. Also a good spot to watch the mad fools jumping off the biggest bungy in the world as well as paragliding down the Peak; there's also a 850m luge track which again provided some entertainment.... as well as a few scuffed knees and torn trousers for those brave/stupid enough to go down it at full speed (approx 95kph), definitely worth the $20 odd dollars that it cost to go up (and sure beats walking!) So that was Queenstown - definitely somewhere to visit again before I leave, preferably with some skis!