Queenstown is not my type of place, and nor is it Ellen's. As a general matter we're much more small town, off the beaten path type folks -- and Queenstown is neither. To be fair Queenstown isn't huge, but it is a tourist hot spot. To make matters worse it's one that caters mostly to a younger demographic within which Ellen and I no longer find ourselves -- and I didn't have nearly enough flat-brimmed hats or pairs of retro sunglasses to fit in.
Thus it was much to our dismay that our schedule had us spending quite a bit of time in the Queenstown area. It's centrally located and serves as a hub for excusions in the area. So we'd stop by for a night, head out of town for a couple, and then swing back through to start the next adventure. And I dare say that we discovered Queenstown's charm.
Most importantly Queenstown allowed us to check the box for a number of our "must do's" in New Zealand.
For example, we watched our first and only rugby match in Queenstown. Critics will point out that we didn't actually go to the match but instead watched on the big screen at the "Lone Star" -- but that's just nitpicking. Rugby is rugby.
We also got to mountain bike in New Zealand. And so what if we didn't actually ride singletrack or opt for the full body suit and fly downhill; the ride around the lake was fun enough.
The real highlights of our Queenstown time, however, came on our trips just outside of town. A five minute drive from Queenstown lies Moke Lake, where we spent a night. The evening was nothing special -- in fact, we (read: Mike) were mostly terrified by the crazy guy in the car next to us, who later caused us to move spots. But the lake itself is set against a picturesque mountain backdrop and is contained by one of the greatest hiking tracks of all time. Not only is the hike scenic but you literally spend half of it herding sheep off the trail -- something Ellen was spectacular at.
A little farther to the north lies the town of Kinloch (which, so far as we can tell, is comprised of a single building) -- where we spent another night and again explored great hiking. This time it was up a brutally steep slope to a glacier-carved valley.
All this is to say: Maybe Queenstown isn't so bad after all.
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