Nothing that we can think of. But we experienced each of these today in Queenstown.
500 Horsepower? Those would be the engines of the jet boat we road on the Shotover River. If you think driving a boat in 4 inches of water, through narrow canyons and doing 360 degree spins is a bad idea, then you’re wrong. We did the Shotover Jet this morning, and it was a blast. Every time we thought we’d hit a rock, our jet boat driver would crank the wheel and we’d miss it by inches. There was family on holiday from the UK, and the youngest daughter asked, “What’s he (the driver) trying to do us?” After the Shotover Jet ride, Greg has some new ideas on how a boat should be driven.
Now that we had our adrenaline fix, it was time to get our alcohol fix. So, we headed off to a couple of wineries in the Queenstown area for some wine tasting. Our first stop was Amisfield Winery. They had some really good wine and the winery was nice as well. Pinot Noir is what this region specializes in, but many of the wineries also produce Sauvignon Blanc, Riesling and Pinot Gris.
We must’ve needed another adrenaline fix (either that or lunch) because we stopped at the AJ Hackett bungy jump at Kawarau Bridge. This is the place where bungy-jumping originated. We watched several folks bungy jump (some required coaxing), but didn’t jump ourselves. We already jumped out of an airplane at 15,000 feet and didn’t think bungy jumping could top that. From here, we headed to a couple more wineries: Chard Farm, Peregrine and Gibbston Valley. Chard Farm is up this windy, gravel one lane road with a cliff that drops into a gorge on one side. But the winery was very charming, and we really enjoyed chatting the folks at the winery. Peregrine had a modern, stark feel, but you could see their cellar with the barrels of wine aging. Gibbston Valley felt the most touristy of all the wineries we visited. They had an extensive store, a wine cave tour and a cheesery.
After soaking up the sun and sobering up a bit, we headed back to Queenstown to get ready for dinner. And what a dinner it was! We had a nine-course degustation with wine parings at Wai, which is right by the lake. The food was fabulous, and the portions were just right. The wine pairings were also generous pours, so we were pretty happy after dinner.
We visited the Minus 5 Bar for a drink. 
The Minus 5 Bar is a bar where everything is made of ice, including the bar, cups, chairs and tons of ice sculptures. Each visitor is only allowed to be in the bar for 30 minutes. They give you parkas and UGGs and gloves. It was definitely different from any bar either of us have been to before.
500 Horsepower? Those would be the engines of the jet boat we road on the 
The Minus 5 Bar is a bar where everything is made of ice, including the bar, cups, chairs and tons of ice sculptures. Each visitor is only allowed to be in the bar for 30 minutes. They give you parkas and UGGs and gloves. It was definitely different from any bar either of us have been to before.
1 comment:
omg, we literally did every single thing you did in this post. Peregrine was our favorite amongst the wineries, as far as the wine itself was concerned. We also enjoyed Amisfield and Waitiri (at the very end, housed in an old church).
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