Queenstown – Adventure Capital of New Zealand – NZ Part 3

“So, do I look like a tourist?” I asked the young waiter patiently standing beside the table, as I struggled to shed my paraphernalia. Binoculars, camera, camera bag, Merrell pants, sweater hoodie, Tilley hat, map, sunglasses. Even if I hadn’t looked like such a doofus, it would be an easy guess. Here in Queenstown, over a million people a year descend on this city of 20,000 through all 4 seasons in this “Adventure Capital of New Zealand”.

I can’t really remember another city so completely devoted to the tourist industry, employing 90% of the permanent residents. When we arrived on a sunny Saturday afternoon in (their) early summer, we found this lakefront town crowded with visitors, strolling through the outdoor craft market, watching a Maori dance troupe perform and lunching at the many outdoor patios. It was quite a shock to the system to find myself in the middle of this bustling city unabashedly devoted to servicing tourists after the relative quiet of our cottage perched on a hill outside of Te Anau in Fiordland.

Every second storefront is a tour outfit there to provide anything you want in this “Adventure Capital”. You can go bungie jumping, jet boating through the canyons, rock climbing, white water rafting, sky diving, paragliding. mountain biking. Try and guess which of these activities caught my attention. (The correct answer is zero). What you don’t do is go swimming. Although Queenstown sits at the edge of the stunning Lake Wakapitu, it is fed by glaciers via 5 rivers and is super deep, never getting above 10C degrees all year ’round.

Cable cars take you up the mountain overlooking the town, lake and surrounding mountains and valleys. In true Queenstown fashion, you can choose to descend by mountain bike trails or on a (gentle) luge track.

Fortunately for these last few days of our trip I had rented a 3 story townhouse on a hill overlooking the lake with killer views from every window, in a quiet neighbourhood away from the city action, yet only a 10 minute drive away. Peace and quiet.

Sitting in our perch looking at that lake, of course I had to find a boat to check it out. And what a boat! The TSS Earnslaw is a steam-powered vessel that has been sailing these waters for over a hundred years. Nowadays it takes tourists up the lake several times a day. You can watch the guys in the engine room shoveling coal and enjoy the scenery in comfort, sipping a cappuccino. Adventure for the rest of us.

Near the top of the lake you can choose to disembark and visit the Walter Peak Farm that puts on a great lunch, sheep dog performances herding sheep up, down and around the hillside, as well as sheep shearing demonstrations. I imagine the sheep talking among themselves. “Here we go again, it’s showtime. We know the drill. We’ll pretend that doggie is actually herding us around this hillside stage.” It was nonetheless impressive, watching those working dogs in action, responding to the movement, calls and hand signals of the sheep guy. A big hit for the visitors.

There are 30 million sheep in New Zealand and another 10 million cows. Four and a half million humans. These animals are ubiquitous. Everywhere you travel in this mostly agricultural country you see vast fields and hills covered with grazing animals. I don’t know what New Zealand has to say about the effects of all that sheep and cow poop on the climate of the planet, but the country provides the world with lamb meat and dairy products, so I’m thinking they may want to keep quiet about that. Let them eat lamb.

I hit the jackpot at the uber-cute town of Arrowtown, a half hour drive from Queenstown when I found the legendary lupins I’d heard about that would be blooming at that time of year. Walking along a trail through the restored Chinatown at the edge of town, celebrating all the Chinese men who came to the area along with others looking for gold, I came through the trees down to the river and gasped at the sight. Masses of them stretched for miles and miles along the banks of the river. Stunning. My kind of adventure.