Everything Queenstown - Getting To Know This Beautiful Town

The stunning resort town of Queenstown (also known as Tahuna in the Māori language) is located on the South-west portion of New Zealand’s South Island, in the Otago region. The town is located on the northern shores of the amazingly beautiful glacial Lake Wakatipu, offering spectacular views of The Remarkables, Walter Peak, Cecil Peak, Ben Lomond and Queenstown Hill.

Queenstown is globally famed for its adventure and winter-based tourism, offering over 200 exciting activities, such as Skiing, snowboarding, white-water rafting, jet boating, bungy jumping, sky diving, paragliding, hang gliding, mountain biking, adventure canyoning, quad biking and so many more, it would be too time consuming to name them all here. The town also celebrates a number of events and festivals, such as the Winter Festival (in June), the Bike Festival (in March and April) and the Jazz Festival (in October). Many of the surrounding areas were also immortalised within the Lord of the Rings trilogy, making this area a gateway for those diehard LOTR fans who want to visit filming locations.

Then

While there is no evidence of Māori settlement within the Queenstown area, there is some indication that the Māori people often visited the Glenorchy area (around 45km from Queenstown), leaving remnants of eel-catching baskets, stake nets, spears and ashes within the area. It is also thought that Ngāi Tahu Māori passed through the Queenstown area on their way to collect greenstone (Pounamu).
The first European to explore the area, Nathanael Chalmers, was led there by the chief of the Tuturau, Reko, in 1853, but settlement did not occur in Queenstown until 1860, when William Gilbert Rees established a farm in the modern-day town centre. Thanks to the gold discovered in the Arrow River, Rees converted his wool shed into a hotel that he named the Queen's Arms (and which is now known as Eichardt's). The town flourished and today, historical buildings – such as William's Cottage, St Peter's Anglican Church, Queenstown Police Station and the Lake Lodge of Ophir – remain to remind residents of the town’s beginnings. Some older historical relics remain as well, such as the century-old TSS Earnslaw – a twin screw, coal fired steamer, which is located on Lake Wakatipu.

Now

Of course, there’s no doubting that this beautiful region, which is ‘fit for a Queen’, is now a thriving hub of activity. Visitors from all over the world arrive daily to take advantage of Queenstown’s four primary snow mountains (Cardrona Alpine Resort, Coronet Peak, The Remarkables and Treble Cone) and delight in the splendid local food and wine. In fact, Queenstown even has its own wine producing region, which is renowned as the world’s most southerly wine region.
As mentioned previously though, many people come to Queenstown for its thrill seeker activities. If you are planning to visit Queenstown for some white-knuckled fun, Everything Queenstown can offer you a huge variety of options, such as:

• Activity Combos
• Bungy Jumping
• Canyon Swing
• Canyoning
• Hang Gliding
• Jet Boating
• Mountain Biking
• Paragliding
• Quad Biking
• Rafting
• River boarding
• Skydiving
• Ziplining & Climbing

Whatever reason you’d like to visit Queenstown for, we guarantee that your visit will be one to remember, so don’t forget your camera!