Queenstown

We arrived in Queenstown this morning, it was roughly an 80km drive on from the rest stop that we camped in last night. I think both me and Izzy agree that Queenstown is the nicest town we have visited so far in New Zealand; it feels like we are in a town set in the middle of the Alps. The snowcapped mountains surround the town in all directions and most of the buildings are very modern and made from materials like slate and wood.

The main tourist attractions in the area are bungy jumps, sky dives, and jet boat rides. We took the Skyline Gondola cable car to the top of Coronet Peak for a view over the town. I was really considering on paragliding down from the top of the mountain, but I think seeing as how I have come so far I may as well go the whole hog and do a sky dive from 12,000ft. It's about $550 (£275) with a DVD of video and photos, so although it's a lot cheaper than doing this sort of thing in England it's going to be a fair dent in my travel money; oh well, you only live once. Fingers crossed that the weather will be as nice tomorrow as it has been today, otherwise I might wait until we get back to Lake Taupo and sky dive there instead.

The plan is to stay here for another day or so then start heading north to Fox Glacier.