2012-01-15
My first glimpse of Queenstown took my breath away. Arid mountains surrounded by a lake so blue that it had to have been Photoshoped. Queenstown is the adventure tourism capital of the world, the home of bungee jumping, and also offering canyon swings, skydiving, paragliding, alpine luge, climbing, skiing, and mountain biking, among others. It has become so expensive to live here that it is dominated by tourists and foreigners. It's a great place to have some wild experiences, if you have a wad of cash. I'd already done it all elsewhere at various times, so I couldn't justify the exorbitant prices. For example, my bungee jump in Thailand was one third the price of a bungee jump here. Luckily, hiking is free and I enjoyed walking the trails around one of the most beautiful towns I've ever witnessed.
There is a famous burger joint here called Fergburger that apparently is known all around the world. Everyone around said it was the best burger they'd ever had. I don't know if it's just that I've had more hamburgers since I'm American, but I wasn't impressed.