Queenstown

The leaves are starting to fall, so Christchurch is particularly beautiful. I'm still busy with schoolwork, but a post is long overdue and I've just gotten some more pictures. In two weeks time I'll be on autumn break for three whole weeks, and I'm planning to do some extended hikes. In the meantime, read about some of the adventures I've already had.

Queenstown is a very famous New Zealand city, known as the adventure capital of the world. True to its reputation, it has much to offer: paragliding, skydiving, zip-lining, mountain biking, white water rafting, bungee jumping, horseback riding, kayaking.... you get the idea. I came down to Queenstown with my sister and cousin who were vacationing in New Zealand.

The first thing we did was zip-lining. What is zip-lining? See for yourself:

You fly through the air with greatest of ease! Zipping along at high speeds, you can do cool tricks or just enjoy feeling like superman. My poor cousin was terrified at first, but ended up loving it by the end.

My favorite part of Queenstown was going horseback riding through a valley. You really feel powerful riding a horse. The valley was stunning, and we rode along a creek. Truly an idyllic way to enjoy nature.

I would like to say that I boldly rode through the valley with the fierceness of Ghengis Kahn, but the horses had other plans. It soon became apparent that my horse was not nearly as impressed with the experience as I was. Having walked the route so many times before, my horse mostly always ignored my commands. At one point my horse even started to sprint up a hill, completely ignoring my panicked admonishments to stop. Eventually, we came to a river crossing, and there the horses staged a sinister coup. My cousin's horse refused to cross the river. Inspired by his civil disobedience, my horse too refused to cross, despite my attempts. Even the Dutch couple riding along with us was having problems. So we turned back, but afterwards we had a good laugh about it.

 

Before leaving Queenstown, we also took a day trip up to Milford Sound for a cruise. Milford Sound has a reputation as one of the most beautiful places in New Zealand. What do you think?

 

Adventure is all well and good, but sometimes it's nice just to relax. After Queenstown, we took a trip to Akaroa. I wrote about the penguin tour there in my last post. Anyways, we had a small cabin to ourselves, complete with a private black sand beach and a sheep farm next door.