Queenstown

So many people I met on my trip said that Queenstown is the most beautiful city in New Zealand, so I was looking forward to it. However, when we arrived, I was a bit disappointed. The city is indeed beautifully situated on Lake Wakatipu, with a beautiful mountain backdrop, but otherwise it doesn't have much to offer. The city consists mainly of shops and adventure offices (Queenstown is the hotspot for activities like skydiving, bungee jumping, etc.). 

But it did have a lot to offer in terms of nightlife, so we had a cozy evening at the pub watching a rugby match with beer and live music - so typical New Zealand :) 

The next day, we took a gondola (Doppelmayr from Austria ;D) up a mountain, and for most (Japanese) tourists, it was the absolute highlight to ride in a gondola. At the base station, a group photo was taken of all passengers in each 4-person gondola, which you could then buy for 15 NZD haha

Once we reached the top, we had breakfast with a great view. Then, at my request, we took two rides on a kind of summer toboggan. Jan thought it would be boring, but he ended up enjoying it too :D With these small vehicles, you could race down a paved and winding track pretty fast. Unfortunately, we were occasionally slowed down by a few slow Asians (I guess it was 'too dangerous' for them haha). 

Afterwards, we visited the 'Kiwi Birdlife Park'. Here, we could observe kiwis (in the dark, with red light, as kiwis are actually nocturnal), keas (mountain parrots), wood pigeons (huge pigeons), and other bird species. The park was a kind of sanctuary for injured animals that would not survive in the wild. The kiwis live there for breeding purposes, as they are endangered. All the kiwis - those that breed and those that hatch - will be released into the wild later on. 

So in the end, we actually quite liked Queenstown.