C2 Cities Of New Zealand p2
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This article is from the New Zealand FAQ, by Phil Stuart-Jones and Lin Nah with numerous contributions by others.
C2 Cities Of New Zealand p2
QUEENSTOWN is by Lake Wakatipu and is the main tourist trap of the NZ 'Lake
District'. Coronet Peak and The Remarkables skifields are the main winter
attractions, bungying takes place all year round.
Richard Symonds gives us:
"I too recommend the Doubtful Sound trip (known as the Triple trip if you
take in the underground power station too - ever gone underground by bus
before?!) A few long trips (still under a day) I enjoyed as a kiwi tourist
in his own country:
- Dart River
- Nomad Safari's Skippers Canyon (you get to view bungee jumping)
- Nomad Safarils Macetown trip (over forty river crossings by landrover)
- Kawarau Jet, which was cheaper, longer, more fun and moe exciting than the
Shotover Jet (which is a rip-off). O.K. the river is wider but they got
closer to the edge. It departs from the main town pier.
- The gondola and the film that shows in the building at the top.
"Its a couple of years since I last went to Queenstown so some of these
attractions might have changed."
Lin Nah offers (edited pretty hard):
There's Skippers Canyon. Famous for the pipeline bungy (102m jump) but you
can take a safari trip there. It is well worth it. I did not do it but
paid $40 for an empty seat on the bungy bus. They don't sell this till
just before the bus leaves. You end up watching people jump off the bridge
but the scenery on the way was well worth it.
There's some concern about the safety record of the people who run the
white water rafting trips. There has been quite a few fatalities there in
the last few years as well as a few major accidents. The North and South
magazine in December 1995 did a feature on this.
You can actually use Queenstown as the base for your trips to Milford,
Wanaka, Arrowtown etc. It is a very touristy town and is often alive when
other parts of NZ are asleep. Many trekkers use it as the stockup and
information point before they head off for the various Milford tracks.
There's a trip to Milford Sound (details in section C3.1.5). If you take
the one that goes overnight, on a good weather day it is definitely the
best value for money. The rushed day trip that leaves at 7am from
Queenstown and returns at 7pm is not even half the price of the overnight
trip. Not sure how they have time to make the number of stops we did.
There are some vineyards around Queenstown.
OAMARU is a really nice little rural centre of about 15K people. Source of
the famous white limestone used in buildings. It's in here mainly because
I was born there...
DUNEDIN is the second largest city in the SI but despite this, is a fairly
small city and the University is an important part of the place. There is
a very strong Scots tradition. During holidays, the place is pretty dead,
but during term time it is (in Richard Bowen's humble opinion :-) the most
sociable campus in the country.
The university is right next to the centre of town, and to the student
suburbs (or slums :-) so there is always a pub within staggering distance.
The vast majority of students are from out of town (most from the North
Island (?)), so they are there just as much to have an enjoyable time as to
learn. Atmosphere is more casual than anywhere else, doesn't have the
snobbishness of Auckland, or the executive orientation of Victoria
(Wellington).
As for the university itself, most universities in nz are pretty similar,
unlike overseas. The Otago Med school is better than the Auckland one
though. I don't know of any weaknesses.
Note that good flats are hard to come by in Dunedin, you might have to
start paying from the end of the previous year.
Lousy weather much of the time.
INVERCARGILL is at the bottom end of the SI and is cold even in the middle
of summer, except on hot days... It rains lots and the Comalco aluminium
smelter is just down the road at Bluff (where the oysters used to come in).
Any other cities which *should* be included? If so, post them *with* a
description. Help filling out the cities above would be appreciated too!
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