Queenstown Travel Guide
7/01/2008 at 9:15 AM
Tags: Winter Travel, Festivals, New Zealand Travel (all tags)
Down in New Zealand the Queenstown Winter Festival is on again, with ten days of craziness to mark the start of the winter ski season in the southern hemisphere.
Our favorite part of the festival is Mountain Mayhem day on Saturday. All kinds of weird stuff happens here, including the Dash for Cash which involves a ski race and an obstacle course in pursuit of a $500 prize.
But the best part of the day is the Suitcase Race, in which contestants toboggan down the mountain on suitcases. The rules say you should bring your own suitcase, although they apparently do have a few spares if, say, you're traveling with a lightweight backpack that might not make it down the mountain.
Related Stories:
· Queenstown Winter Festival [Official Site]
· Mountain Mayhem as Queenstown Gets Piste [news.com.au]
· Good News for Lovers of Winter [Jaunted]
[Photo: Str1ke]
by amandak
12/19/2007 at 9:30 AM
Tags: Adventure Travel, Active Travel, New Zealand Travel, Scary (all tags)
Feel like taking a gentle, relaxing swing? Then the Shotover Canyon Swing near Queenstown, New Zealand, is probably not for you.
The name itself is fantastic--the Swing is above the Shotover River--and the experience sounds pretty amazing too. After you jump off a platform built into the edge of a cliff above the river:
You'll have a pure free fall of 200 feet into the canyon before the ropes smoothly pendulum you to a giant swing arc of 650 feet at 95 mph. The free fall/swing journey is so smooth you'll barely notice when you've finished free falling and begun your swing. After a number of swings across the canyon we'll winch you swiftly back up to the platform.
The Shotover Canyon Swing gang offer ten options for your jump style, including forwards, backwards, doing a flip, the cutaway, pin drop and the intriguing Gimp Boy Goes to Hollywood jump. Each comes with a scariness rating to choose the jump that's right for you, but we'd go Gimp Boy for the name alone.
Related Stories:
· Shotover Canyon Swing [Official Site]
· Queenstown Travel coverage [Jaunted]
· Queenstown Hotels [HotelChatter]
[Photo: markc123]
by amandak
8/27/2007 at 9:45 AM
Tags: Backpackers, New Zealand Travel (all tags)
Getting cash while you're on a budget RTW trip isn't always easy, and every bank tries to slap on a few extras overseas withdrawal fees when you're not looking. But last week in Queenstown, New Zealand, a cash machine started giving backpackers double the money they were asking for.
The big bonus is that nobody's gonna ask them for the money back. A Kiwibank cash machine was incorrectly stocked, with $20 bills being placed in the $10 bill dispenser. Smart backpackers got the word around to their mates and for about six hours, long queues of happy travelers withdrew double their money. The bank says it made a mistake and won't be trying to reclaim the money. Now that's a holiday bonus.
Related Stories:
· Queenstown Hotels [HotelChatter]
· Lovers of Winter in Queenstown [Jaunted]
[Photo: oceanpark]
by amandak
3/23/2007 at 9:30 AM
Tags: Winter Sports, Festivals, Advertising (all tags)
If you're a thick sweater and gloves fan and wish that the northern hemisphere winter wasn't coming to an end, you'll be happy to hear that the hype for New Zealand's Lindauer Queenstown Winter Festival is just beginning. The week-long party takes place from June 22 to July 1 with a combination of ski and snowboard shows, jazz nights and pop and rock fests, all held in and around Queenstown in the south-west of New Zealand's South Island.
With four large skifields located near Queenstown, it's the obvious part of New Zealand to celebrate the winter in. Our only gripe is with the heavy sponsor marketing, with sponsorship deals making events sound like one big advertisement: it might be a day full of the best snowboard tricks ever, but do they have to call it the "SkiDealsNZ.com Big Air" competition? Yet at the same time, locals are whinging that half of Queenstown's businesses get no financial benefit from the Winter Festival at all.
[Photo: angryfifer]
Related Stories:
· Festival Chief: Glass is Half Full [Scene NZ]
· Queenstown Girls Like To Watch [HotelChatter]
by amandak
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