30th Birthday in Queenstown

When we booked our round the world tickets at TrailFinders the saleswoman advised us that Queenstown is party central of New Zealand and would be the best place to celebrate my 30th.  After an uneventful evening in Auckland we flew down to Queenstown, on the 14th, and checked into a Nomads hostel.  Immediately we felt old as the average age of travellers in this place must be about 22.  After an initial explore of the surprisingly small town centre we jumped on the gondala for a spin on the infamous luge track.  Unfortunately it was very cloudy so we couldn't see what should have been magnificent views but at least the weather was putting everyone else off from using the luge and we had the track to ourselves.  Nilgun really struggled with the concept of the pull to go and pull further to brake, but once that obstacle was overcome we were having great fun.  In the wet it was easy to loose control and in one hairpin Nilgun's attempted overtake resulted in a serene 180° spin!  We had had a very unvalentine's day but finished the evening with a delightful Indian - our first since leaving the UK.

On the morning of my birthday I opened a couple of cards from Nilgun and my parents before heading out to catch our transport with AJ Hackett to the Nevis Swing, the highest, biggest swing in the world.  Nilgun really didn't want to do this but she wanted me to do something crazy on my birthday, so I opted for a tandem swing! Haha!  We were the first to go that morning and it took surprisingly little time for them to have us strapped into harnesses, hooked on to the swing and hanging over 160m (about 525ft) above the canyon floor.  With a 70m free-fall you accelerate to 150kph in a 300 metre arc.   The guys took a bunch of photos with strategically placed cameras before asking if we would like a countdown or surprise release (they press a button to drop you), I asked for a surprise, he said look up to your right for a photo and with that he released us.  I let out a ridiculous groan/scream as we fell to the rocks until the swing smoothly kicks in and swung us across the canyon.

The sun came out as we took the bus down to the Shotover River for our thrilling ride one of the Shotover Jets.  These boats, a kiwi invention, have twin turbocharged V6 engines mounted to jet ski style nozzles.  They are super agile and can skim accross water only 5cm deep!  The driver throws it around through a narrow canyon missing the rock faces by the smallest margins.  With plenty of 360° spins throw in for good measure it was excellent fun, highly recommended if you go to Queenstown.

After all that adrenaline we chilled by the lake with a pint of Stella (glass of wine for Nil) before having a bash at another Queenstown creation, Disc Golf (like golf but with frisbee's and set in a public gardens).  We finished the afternoon off with a massive burger from the legendary Ferg Burger.  I choose the biggest burger on the menu 'Big Al'. And demolished it!

That evening we tagged along to the Queenstown Pub Crawl.  It's an organised thing where you get chaperoned around various bars with free and discount drinks.  A young german couple from our dorm at the hostel came along with us and we experienced a couple of drinks in the Ice Bar - a bar where stools, glasses, everything is carved from ice - before heading to countless other bars.  It was great fun and Nil made sure I had a skinful by telling every barman that is was my 30th and usually free drinks followed.  This included teapots at world bar, as recommended by my brother Jonny. Don't ask!