With LCA now behind me I move on to the Holiday part of my journey. Me and Girlfriend spent a week in Queenstown, New Zealand.
On our previous trip to NZ we spent a couple of days here are voted it most likely to be a return destination should we make it back. With LCA being in NZ this year it seemed fitting we spend some time here.
Having a whole week as opposed to just a couple of days we could plan some things in advance and fit in a few of the activities we would of liked to do last time and to also redo some of the highlights from the last trip.
Queesntown for those who are unfamiliar is the tourist capital of thrill seeking tourist activities. Although the natives long abandoned it, Queenstown lives on as /the/ place in NZ to jump off of shit. Of course it’s not just limited to jumping. You can also do almost anything you can think of that involves high speed, high adrenaline and just plain being high. Of course it’s not just adventure seeking, there are some quieter things that people can do that are still fun and a little out there.
We also made the trip up to Fox Glacier, some 5 hours north of Queenstown to have a walk on the ice. We also got an old Twin Screw Steamer over the huge lake to go horse riding, went down hill mountain biking in the remote Skippers Canyon and managed to consume some of New Zealand’s finest cheese and wine.
Overall it’s been a great week and to be honest I think I could come back to Queenstown over and over again and never run out of things to do. Some of the more interesting things involve Helicopters. It seems that once you get to a certain point with an activity you just have add a Helicopter to make it even more extreme. One such activity we came across was hunting. You can go hunting here for both deer and pig. Although I’m not such a fan of shooting things for fun the idea of getting in a Helicopter, flying sideways at high speed while trying to take down a buck with a high powered hunting rifle appeals to me. How could it not?
Another thing I might like to do would be Heli-biking. Essentially you strap a down hill mountain bike to a helicopter and get a flight some 2000m up a mountain and proceed to ride down. Nothing says awesome like a 1800M 4 hour decent over some of the best terrain New Zealand has to offer. And you don’t even have to ride up first. Not that you could have course because these down hill bikes are certainly not designed for pedaling. In fact, on the flat they feel massively awkward and cumbersome. As soon as you get them point downwards though the geometry all starts to make sense. The massive suspension travel, the huge fat tyres the heavy square frame, the way the saddle is nowhere near your but and the way the cranks act more like a platform for standing on than for rotation. I think in essence these bikes remind me more of the motocross bikes of my youth than todays road going bicycles. Like the sloping front forks and riding position that forces your weight over the rear wheel. One thing that I have to say is that this sport requires complete faith in your bike. That faith is just deserved as well as they will generally roll over pretty much any and everything. The bike takes care of everything, just point it where you want to go and hold on. Rocks, creeks, rutts and cliffs it just doesn’t matter. The bike just pwns. In fact I think I might be in danger of leaving the lyrca clad, “drink this poweraide and ride for 7 hours up a hill” endurance cycling side and moving the much more awesome, tattoo clad, “You’re not a real man until you’ve broke your collarbone” downhill crew.