Queenstown travel info

Eight in the morning at Steamer Wharf. The century-old TSS Earnslaw puffs black smoke from her funnel as she gets ready to sail, and next to her a red jet boat warms its engines. Across the road there's already a queue outside Fergburger. Look up and the sheer rock wall of the Remarkables stands across the lake like a stage set: white-topped in winter, and in summer the sun doesn't set until after nine.

Queenstown is a town of about 30,000 on the northern shore of Lake Wakatipu, a long lake bent into an S. You can walk the centre in fifteen minutes, but nobody comes for the town itself. They come for what's around it: the Kawarau Bridge bungy, jet boats on the Shotover River, the gondola up to Bob's Peak, ski fields twenty minutes' drive away, and Milford Sound, which takes a whole day. Many visitors arrive at the end of a South Island road trip, driving down from Christchurch via Lake Tekapo and Mount Cook.

Most long-haul visitors change planes in Auckland, Sydney or Christchurch. The airport is 8 km from town, 20 minutes by bus. Being in the southern hemisphere, the seasons run opposite to the north's: ski in July, swim in January. Don't forget to get your NZeTA (electronic travel authority) before you fly, if your passport requires one.

Queenstown Airport (ZQN)