Ice, Ice Baby

Enjoy a nice, frosty cocktail on a hot summer night? If so, you’d like -5 here in Queenstown, NZ, one of 25 or so “ice bars” worldwide (we don’t have one in the U.S., but there’s an ice bar in the works for Vegas – where else?). Everything is made of ice – the bar, the “furniture”, the walls, even the glasses. As you can imagine, they have to keep the place pretty cold. The staff supplies you with a big coat and gloves, because -5 is actually as warm as it gets in the bar; the temperature varies between -5 and -10 celsius (an average day in say, Minneapolis, in January). You get a 30 minute stint in -5 for your entry fee. At first, I was very cavalier, taking my gloves off and finding it refreshing. After 15 minutes, the gloves were back on and comments from the others in the bar centered on “it’s really ___ing cold!” After 23 minutes, I was gone. But it was cool – ok, I know it’s a bad pun, but it was….

That’s just one of the myriad of things you can experience in Queenstown that you probably can’t do back home. It’s the Dude Capital of New Zealand, maybe the world. Queenstown feels like an X games that never ends (decide for yourself if that’s a dream or a nightmare). The extreme sports options, as well as things like – 5, are limitless. Yesterday, I tried my hand at riding a luge on top of a mountain (no injuries, no overt laughter from others directed toward me, and I’d do it again in a minute); today I just finished rafting a class IV river (very sore and tired, but it was fun!!) and rode a Jet Boat, which speeds you through river canyons at 50 mph. The spins are the best part. There’s also sky diving, paragliding, bungee jumping (cold day in hell comes to mind…), a canyon swing (see bungee jumping), and gobs of other activities designed by sick minds to test your physical limits and see if you can laugh in the face of your impending demise. My kind of place.

Queenstown’s visitors offer the ultimate travel dichotomy. On the one hand, you have the dudes. Twenty somethings, in fleece or Gore-Tex, with stubble (maybe even the girls), carefully planned bad hair, carrying some extreme sports implement, whether it’s a paddle, a pole, or a helmet – the goal would always seem to be avoiding one more catastrophic brain injury. On the other hand, you have the 60-something retiree and early retiree tourists, touring New Zealand, with large cameras, sun hats, and white/khaki/pastel colored clothes, hoping that their grandchildren aren’t trying to kill themselves in Queenstown.

Actually, the 60-somethings, and most other visitors who aren’t hurling themselves down a hill, are here for the scenery. It’s phenomenal. Beautiful mountains, crystal clear lakes and rivers, and views that could make you veer off the road (a new extreme sport?). The road from Queenstown to Glenorchy, where much of the Lord of the Rings trilogy was filmed, is considered one of the most beautiful drives in the world, and I’d say that whoever decides those things is right. Snowcapped jagged peaks descending to a 50K long perfectly blue glacial lake, dotted with islands, with lots of forest and green fields scattered about, and you get the picture. Once you get to Glenorchy, there are tons of hiking or (tame) rafting options to get you even closer to the wild country. Beyond Glenorchy, there’s even a gorgeous place aptly named Paradise, which pretty much sums up the whole region.

And when you’re done exploring, you can go back to Queenstown and jump off a cliff with an elastic cord tied around your ankle. Fun. Thanks, but I’ll take the cocktail on ice instead.