Located at the top of the Skyline complex, Kiwi Haka is a chance to experience Maori Culture through song and dance.
On a sunny day in Queenstown, I was greeted by Norm Ruru, the founder of Kiwi Haka, at the Skyline base in Brecon Street. From there we took a ride in a gondola to the top of the Skyline Restaurant & Luge.

On the way up to the Skyline, Norm speaks proudly of his live show which is performed by his Kapa Haka group. Kiwi Haka has been operating for 12 years and relocated from the centre of town to the top of the skyline five years ago, a move which Norm says has been “beneficial” because of the setting, where you experience magic views with a great show. He points to the stunning scenery that surrounds our gondola.

The steep ride enables me to capture this amazing view of Queenstown. Once at the top, it definitely has the “wow factor”.
Though I have visited the Skyline complex several times, I’m still taken aback by its beautiful view. Lake Wakatipu is stunning with the Remarkable Mountains and Walter Peak as its backdrop – the scenery is jaw dropping!

Kiwi Haka incorporates six members all in traditional Maori costume who tell stories, sing and dance inside this intimate theatre made up as a marae. As I’m about to enter the marae strong mythical carved legends set the scene.

The show starts off with a ceremonial welcome (powhiri) to Queenstown. Instantly I’m captivated!

The powhiri is followed by the wero (challenge) by the strongest warrior and the karanga (welcoming call) from the women of the tribe after the challenge has been accepted. This leads to the mihi (introduction) where one warrior stands and greets us. His stance is intimidating and his facial expressions fascinating as he outlines his ancestry and his place in the world in his native tongue.

The Kapa Haka then join forces and give praise to their proud history which has been passed down through the generations in their traditional song and dance.

The highlight is the powerful performance of the war chant – the haka.

I can’t help but feel proud because the show is so well done. It may only go for 30 minutes, but everything flows and it’s enough to give a small but significant taste of what Maori culture is all about. Crowd participation is important throughout the show, and it’s great to watch some members of the audience tackle the poi – highly entertaining!

I turn to Norm and say “well done”. He replies: “Did you enjoy it then?”

“Of course”, I say, “it was awesome!”

See Kiwi Haka at the Queenstown Skyline Complex at the top of the gondola. In peak season (summer) there are up to five shows a night. Click here for more information.

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Heading up to the first floor on Athol Street, I opened the doors and was welcomed in to the warm, soothing spa by a sea of luxurious bottles and scents. I was delighted that the reception area projected such indulgence, as I eagerly awaited my treatments. 

After being shown to my floatation room by one of the therapists, I was given a brief explanation about how flotation works. At first glance, the pod in the middle of the room seemed somewhat daunting; however I was swiftly assured that once inside, I would drift into a total sense of relaxation.

Floatation allows you to be suspended in a tank of water, free from gravity. The salt solution creates the state of weightlessness inside the pod, as water is kept at a comfortable room temperature by a computerised heating system. I was told the solution was ten times more buoyant than the Dead Sea and I was looking forward to testing if this was true.

Stepping in to the dark pod and closing the lid, I felt a little restricted however breathing deeply, I set about getting in a state of relaxation. As I lay back in to the warm water, I felt myself float to the top of the tank, as faint musical tones tingled in my ears from the pod’s speakers. Closing my eyes, I let myself drift off…

When the music faded thirty minutes later, I was disappointed that time had vanished so quickly. Half an hour of floatation is the equivalent to two hours sleep, and I certainly felt the benefits, with every muscle in my body feeling soothed. Floatation is fabulous for helping to recover from jet-lag, injuries, re-energising the body, reducing stress, softening the skin, drawing toxins out of the body and soothing tired aching muscles – perfect after a day on the ski slopes!

Delighted that I still had another treatment to go, I slipped on my dressing gown and slippers and was led to another room for my Tranquillity Massage. The floatation before the massage meant that my body was already completely relaxed; therefore I was able to benefit from the massage straight away. As my masseuse gently kneaded my head, shoulders, neck and back, I felt the tension leave my muscles and any distracting day-to-day thoughts drift from my mind.

Leaving the Body Sanctum, I felt completely rejuvenated. My aches and pains had vanished, and my only disappointment lay in the fact that the whole experience was over. If only I could enjoy that kind of pampering after every visit to the mountain!

Body Sanctum have two spas in Queenstown, the Massage & Floatation Centre and the Exclusive Day Spa. They also offer Mobile Massage, allowing you to enjoy a treatment in the privacy of your own accommodation.

For more information about the Body Sanctum, click here!

After being collected from Queenstown in a shuttle bus, my small group and I enjoyed our hour-long journey, passing beautiful snow capped mountains and the spectacular Lake Wakatipu on our way out to Glenorchy.

Situated in what seems like the middle of nowhere is a huge sheep station belonging to High Country Horses. As we pulled up in the car park, I saw our eight horses all rugged up in the paddock and ready to be paired up with each of us eager customers.

After admitting to having no experience with horses at all, I was introduced to a smaller horse, who, I was told, had something of an eating problem, in that he simply couldn’t stop! At first I didn’t see this as a problem, however ten minutes in and at my horse’s fifth attempt to stop and munch at the grass below him, I realised I had picked a real character!

Being winter, we all wrapped up in hats and gloves and began a slow trot away from the paddock. Our guides were incredibly professional, accepting that there was a mixed bag of ability on the trip, leading one small group off for some more serious cantering while the rest of us less experienced happily continued our slow paced trot, through glacial fed rivers and across acres of the sheep station. Everywhere I looked, there seemed to be a stunning backdrop of snow-capped mountains and it truly set the scene for the afternoon.

Being an avid photographer, I was delighted that we were able to stop a number of times to take photographs, of both ourselves on our horses and also of the incredible scenery. The groups were pretty small which meant I got to know the others I was riding with as we shared in our experience of first-time horse riding.

After a couple of hours, the winter light started to fade and we headed back home to base. Hopping off my greedy little horse, whom I had strangely become quite attached to, I was so grateful that he not only hadn’t thrown me off his back but that he had also returned me home in one piece!

High Country Horses offer horse riding for all ages and abilities and it’s a fabulous way to get out and about and experience the extraordinary landscape that surrounds Queenstown.

Click here for more information.

The Shotover Canyon Swing is set up at the top of a cliff, 109m (360ft) above the Shotover River in Queenstown. It’s a wicked alternative to doing a bungy jump and is guaranteed to get your heart thumping!

After checking in at the Canyon Swing office in Queenstown, and enduring the painful process of being weighed in front of a bunch of other brave daredevils, a pattern was drawn on my hand and I was wished the best of luck! Returning to my friends, we compared patterns and began to wonder – was each pattern symbolising which jump-style we’d be asked to do?

Jumping in the complimentary shuttle van, we headed out of town towards the Shotover River. It’s only a short drive but with 8 others huddled together in this small vehicle, I couldn’t help but get caught up in the banter and excitement.

Upon arrival, we walked down a little track before being met by the sight of another adrenalin junkie plummeting down in to the canyon, with nothing but jump ropes to support him. Was that really what I was about to do?

Adrenalin started pumping through my body, and my friend’s enthusiasm to choose the most dare-devil jump styles simply heightened my fear. Instead, I myself was content with choosing ‘The Chair’; supposedly the easiest option where you sit in a harness and leave the task of releasing the cord to your jumpmaster.  However I challenge anyone to argue that there is anything ‘easy’ about freefalling 60m in to a canyon, in a sitting position with nothing to hold on to!

As I got strapped into my gear, I was relieved to discover that the patterns on our hands had been nothing to do with our jump-styles; just a kindly disguised symbol of our weight – what a relief!

This relief quickly dissolved however as I was asked to step out off the platform, over the canyon, suspended by ropes above me. Thoroughly enjoying watching this poor punter squirm, the jump guides kept me hanging over the canyon for about a minute! The fear of knowing what was about to happen but not quite sure when, was immense!

The jump guides then asked me to lean back and look up at the camera and as soon as I did, without any warning, they pulled the cord to release me. I’m sure my screams were heard back in Queenstown! Gravity pulls you down toward the river before you really know what’s going on and it’s only really once you start the swing across the canyon at the bottom that you take in what has just happened. The sensation of freefalling 60m at a speed of about 150kph is absolutely mind blowing and while you are sure to lose your stomach on the way down, the sense of achievement for attempting such a terrifying activity is well worth facing the fear for!

Once I had completed my swing, I was pulled back up to the top of the platform, able to finally enjoy the (much slower and relaxing) experience and take in the incredible scenery.

Find out more about the Shotover Canyon Swing here!

The iconic American Express Queenstown Winter Festival celebrates it’s 35^th birthday this year, which means celebrations between 26 June to 5 July 2009 will be even bigger and better than ever.

For ten whole days, Queenstown plays host to a bundle of outrageous and unique events, from debates to races, comedy and bands and fireworks and fancy dinners.

The festival dates back to 1975 when locals decided that the arrival of snow was a ‘great excuse for a party’. Every year since, the festival has evolved to forge a unique identity as Down Under’s premier celebration of all things winter.

Now an iconic event cemented on New Zealand’s calendar, the American Express Queenstown Winter Festival attracts 60,000 attendees all joining in to welcome the start of the ski season with street parties, fireworks, live concerts, comedy, theatre, family fun and loads of mountain action.

The Queenstown Winter Festival gets underway in style on Friday 26 June 2009 at the free American Express Opening Party with a spectacular fireworks display, live music, mulled wine and a wide range of different food options.

Check it all out at www.winterfestival.co.nz

Ski season in Queenstown won’t be kicking off for another three months, however improvements to Coronet Peak and The Remarkables ski fields have been keeping the mountain staff busy as they prepare for another hectic season.

In February, NZSki announced that the largest single order of snow groomers in New Zealand history was to make its way to the slopes of the country’s premier ski areas ahead of the 2009 snow season.

Then in March, it was revealed that even greater improvements were being made to the new $30 million base facility and world class snowmaking system at Coronet Peak, following its grand opening in 2008.

Improvements include upgrading children’s facilities and programmes to cater for babies as young as three months old right through to teenagers of 17, and investing in two new state-of-the-art snow groomers to improve on-trail conditions. The dedicated kids’ slope attached to the crèche area will be doubled in size and feature a 24-metre Sun Kid surface conveyor lift designed especially for very young beginners.

Coronet Peak is also completing a new snowmaking reservoir with a capacity of 89 million liters in Sarah Sue, which will improve water stocks to enable better use of the fully automated snowmaking system across the entire mountain.

People heading to Coronet Peak for the 2009 season will also enjoy affordable transport to the mountain. Return transport from the Queenstown Snow Centre and selected Queenstown accommodation providers to the base building will be available for only $10.

Over at the Remarkables, riders and skiers will find the ground level of the base building fully renovated, with bigger and better children’s facilities and a more efficient, easier to access guest services department. Two new snow groomers have also been included within the existing fleet to provide the best possible surfaces for riders and skiers.

A free transport service to The Remarkables will now be included with full day passes, multi-day passes and combo packs for the 2009 season. This free return transport will run from the Snow Centre in Queenstown to the base facilities of The Remarkables and is sure to be a huge hit with skiers and snowboarders.

For all the latest news on the forthcoming ski and snowboarding season in New Zealand, visit www.brownbear.co.nz

The crawl starts in the Buffalo Club at 8:30pm Tuesdays to Saturdays (9:30pm during summer). The Big Night Out crew have a desk set up just inside the door – you can either book you’re place before hand by email or just rock on up on the night and sign up then. It costs $25 each to go on the crawl but for that you get a free drink in every bar, a ticket in the raffle to win prizes such as sky dive with NZ Sky Dive, an AJ Hackett bungy jump or ski passes during the winter. You also get a drinking passport which has nine bars who will provide you with special drinks offers (you visit six of these whilst on the bar crawl), a discount for Hell’s Pizza, and even a discount on your taxi ride home – what more can you ask for??

It was a fantastic night out – the crawl was incredibly well organised and the crawlers – although a little unsteady on their feet by the end of the night – all enjoyed themselves without any yobbish happens going on and even made a new friend or two along the way. I was impressed that the Big Night Out crew managed to keep us all together throughout the night without appearing to lose anyone along the way. In fact, we managed to acquire more people as we were all having such a good time that people followed us to the other bars!

The Big Night Out has now also started in Christchurch three nights a week, Thursday to Saturday, starting at Shooters bar on Manchester St and heading to 5 bars around the city centre. Free drinks and even free nibbles too! For more info check out www.bignightout.net.nz.

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Arrowtown is the sweetest little mountain hamlet – a delightful nugget of New Zealand Gold Rush history alive and well and offering a great selection of shops and restaurants! The cobbled main street is lined with historic stores and cottages that have been beautifully restored and now house art galleries, gift shops, cafés and The Remarkable Sweet Shop. Those with a sweet tooth, take note, if you are coming anywhere near this part of the world, you must make a beeline straight for this slice of sugary heaven. Shelves are lined with amply proportioned jars of every lolly, chocolate and liquorice your heart could desire (including plenty of old Kiwi favourites), but it was the selection of fudge under the counter that really caught our fancy. Every flavour you could imagine (and some you couldn’t) is on offer in 100 gram blocks that are carefully weighed and wrapped in greaseproof paper for you to take home and enjoy (if you get that far!). You’re allowed to sample them, so go ahead and try something a little unusual, but if you really want a divine taste sensation, I’ve got two words for you: Crème Brûlée. Go on, try it!

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I took a bit of a detour via the Southland town of Gore, rejoining State Highway 6 at Lumsden. If you’ve been exploring Te Anau and Fiordland, on the western side of the South Island, you’ll arrive on State Highway 6 just north of Lumsden.

The rolling countryside of Southland, dotted with sheep or neat rows of hay bales, gives way to ochre hills as you cruise up the broad valley between the Garvie and Eyre mountain ranges. As you gain altitude the sky opens up wide over Southland behind you, while ahead the mountains of the Southern Lakes region stand shoulder to shoulder.

And then, suddenly, a glimpse of the lower arm of Lake Wakatipu – guaranteed to take your breath away! Today, mist sweeps over the mountain tops above rugged rock faces that drop sharply into the slate-grey lake. Clouds part randomly, sending shafts of soft yellow light across the cliffs.

There are few places in the world that could deliver on the promise of a first impression like this – fortunately, Queenstown is one of those places. From the snug backdrop of velvety pine-clad hills to the lake and mountains on which the town gazes, you’d be hard-pressed to sketch a more picture-perfect mountain setting. One final tip: make sure your camera’s fully charged because you’re definitely going to need it!

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Every time I visit Queenstown, I’m in awe of its beauty, surrounded as it is by rugged mountains, which I find captivating! And on a sunny day like the day I drove into Queenstown, Lake Wakatipu was such a picturesque shade of blue that it took my breath away. I have to admit I’m a sucker for landscapes, so it’s moments like these that make me feel proud to be a Kiwi.

Immediately I felt pumped, ready to explore and get active (but not enough to do a bungy jump though!). I’m afraid I hate heights, but I will endeavour to do it next time – promise!

If you are like me, there is always the AJ Hackett Bungy tour at the Kawarau Bungy Centre in the Gibbston Valley. Basically you get to experience the bungy without actually doing it, and come away with a wealth of knowledge about it. It certainly geared me up for a later attempt to spread my wings, because after going through the motions of all the safety procedures which have been put in place, and seeing those “daredevils” bungy jump and be left buzzing afterwards certainly made me feel more confident to throw myself off the bridge – bungy cord intact, of course.

I did however experience the thrill of taking a ride in the Shotover Jet. I was excited but at times terrified when the driver spun the boat around to spray us all with water, while skimming through the canyon at top speed. At one point I was holding on really tightly for fear of being thrown out of my seat and falling overboard into the Shotover River. Either way it was a good excuse to scream out loud, although my yelps were overshadowed by those from some of the others in the crew!

Jet boating is just one adventure of the many up for grabs in Queenstown. For a great day out, head for Serious Fun River Surfing. For four hours, you get to go white water river-boarding down the Kawarau River, and while at it, you learn to ride whirlpools, run rapids, do jumps and so much more with experienced guides on hand.

There are so many activities in the mix to challenge you and others that will fascinate you, such as walking trails and tracks and 4WD tours, gondola views, and spectacular scenic flights over the region.

But that’s not all. Queenstown is also a place to immerse yourself in some of the wonderful vineyards. I am partial to relaxing and sipping on a nice vino. A must-see is Chard Farm and Peregrine Winery in the Gibbston Valley. Director Greg Hay, of Peregrine Winery and brother to Chris Hay, of Chard Farm, have stunning vineyards that not only capture the beauty of the landscape. Both wineries have produced some fabulous award-winning wines.

Peregrine’s building is a stand-out – it has won awards from the Architecture Review magazine in London and the NZ Institute of Architects. The building’s gradient roof, made up of Duralite industrial cladding, attached to galvanised steel roof purlins, was inspired by our native falcon (the karearea) in flight and it’s definitely worth a look.

Gibbston Valley Wines is the perfect place to wine and dine. You will find each dish is matched superbly, too, with its award-winning wines. Amisfield Wine Company and Bistro also offers some nice aromatic whites and produces a good Pinot Noir, and it’s only 10 minutes out of Queenstown. It’s the perfect place to relax and enjoy the fabulous view over Lake Hayes.

There is so much to do here amongst this dramatic landscape of beautiful mountains, deep valleys and crystal clear water. What more could you ask for?

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