Queenstown: High Roads, Wild Rivers, and the Spirit of Adventure - March 2023
If Auckland was our gentle landing into Aotearoa, Queenstown was where New Zealand fully revealed its wild heart.
We flew south from Auckland, watching the landscape change beneath us — greener, sharper, more dramatic — until the Southern Alps rose into view. The moment we touched down on the South Island, the energy shifted. This was a place that doesn’t whisper. It calls.
Home on the Edge of Lake Wakatipu
Our base near Queenstown was The Rees Hotel, a serene and elegant retreat perched above Lake Wakatipu, with uninterrupted views of the water and the mountains beyond.
The Rees strikes a beautiful balance: refined and peaceful, yet perfectly positioned for adventure. Spacious rooms, calm interiors, and floor-to-ceiling windows made it feel like we were living inside a landscape painting. Each morning began with light pouring across the lake; each evening ended with mountains silhouetted against the sky.
It was the kind of place that lets you rest deeply — which mattered, because Queenstown doesn’t let you stay still for long.
Queenstown: Adventure Capital of the World
Queenstown is unapologetically adventurous. This is a town built around motion — jumping, biking, hiking, boating, climbing — all set against a backdrop so dramatic it almost feels unreal.
Surrounded by mountains and anchored by the lake, Queenstown pulses with energy. It’s youthful, bold, and buzzing with people who have come here to feel alive. Every street seems to offer another invitation: Try this. Jump here. Go farther.
We accepted as many of those invitations as we could.
Into the High Country — Road Safari
One of our most unforgettable experiences was a road safari into the high hills, climbing into rugged backcountry on narrow dirt trails that felt barely wide enough for a single vehicle.
The roads hugged steep edges, dipped into valleys, and crossed terrain that made your heart beat just a little faster. At times, the silence was broken only by wind and the crunch of gravel beneath the tires.
We motored straight through shallow streams — water rushing around the wheels — and followed ancient routes into the Arrowtown region, where gold-rush history still lingers in weathered buildings and quiet museums.
Arrowtown itself felt like a time capsule: historic streets, preserved cottages, and stories of miners who once chased fortune through these hills. Wandering through the town and its museums grounded us — a reminder that adventure has always lived here, long before it was branded.
On Two Wheels, Over Water
Queenstown also delivered on two wheels.
We joined a bike tour that carried us across narrow wire suspension bridges, pedaling above rushing rivers with nothing but cables and planks beneath us. It was thrilling, slightly terrifying, and utterly unforgettable — the kind of experience that demands presence and rewards courage.
Each crossing felt like a small triumph. Each stretch of trail revealed another jaw-dropping view.
A Shared Table Among the Vines
As the day softened, we gathered at a local winery, the perfect place to come back together after hours of movement and adrenaline.
Wine glasses caught the late light. Plates were passed. Stories flowed easily. It was one of those moments that travel gifts you — where adventure gives way to connection, and the memory settles in quietly while you’re still living it.
Queenstown had pushed us, thrilled us, and welcomed us all at once.
✨ Reflection
Queenstown is a place of edges and elevation, of narrow roads and wide-open views, of heart-racing moments balanced by deep stillness. It asks you to trust — the road, the bridge, the water, yourself.
This chapter of our New Zealand journey reminded me that adventure isn’t always about speed or risk. Sometimes it’s about stepping forward even when the path is narrow — and discovering just how capable you are.
And we were only getting started.
