First thing we did on arrival was walk down by the lake. Here the century–old coal–fired steamer Earnslaw is pulling into the dock.

Here are two photographs that are representative of the commercial area of the city. The first is is on a side street in the shopping area, and the second is a walkway by the lake.

Our next move was up to a mountain top (arrow) via a gondola. This is the view of Queenstown from the top.

There is a luge course at the top. 

There is also a spot to do a bit of bungy jumping for those who have a lot of courage.

Here is a remarkable view of the Remarkables.

Looking directly across the lake from the top of the gondola run; the Earnslaw is visible, chugging up the lake.

On Thursday morning we drove up to the far end of the lake, to Glenorchy (boat pin on the map). Even with the cloud cover, this canyon is, well, awesome.

We went for a walk when we arrived in town, and saw black swans.

Here’s another tourist activity—leaping out of an airplane and gliding to the ground. 

We are in Glenorchy to travel up the shallow Dart River in a jet boat. 

The boat really moved fast upriver. The turns were quite sharp, to avoid rocks or too–shallow water. There were also some optional turns, i.e. 360 degrees, just for fun, not for navigation. We only got a little wet. After a walk through a native beech forest at the end of the boat trip, we were shown some sites where Lord of the Rings movies were filmed (they are all over South Island).

The views from the boat were great.

This photograph shows the shallowness of the river.

The area is quite beautiful.

The next day we took a tour up to and through Skippers Canyon, an old gold mining area near Queenstown. The roads were steep, unpaved and narrow. There were also a few one lane suspension bridges to cross. 

Our tour guide handed us gold mining pans and instructed us on how to look for gold on the shore of the river. We did not strike it rich, but one of our tour fellow travelers did pick up a tiny bit of gold.

The area is quite rugged. Here is the view on the climb out from the river.

A little further on and we are back in civilization. A portion of Queenstown is visible out by the lake.

After we got back to the city, we got in the car and drove out to the Kawarau Bridge, site of the country’s first bungy jump. 

This video shows a jump.

When we got back to our hotel we saw more parasailing. 

Here again is the full interactive map of the places we visited on the South Island.

We are in sporty Queenstown for a few days to see if it is as fun as everyone says.

Next—Lake Taupo on North Island.