"Okay everyone, if you look up, you might get lucky and see someone bungy jump off the bridge,” our boat captain says as we cruise under the Auckland Harbour Bridge on a late afternoon sail around the city’s Waitemata Harbour.
Our ferry slows down and we get a clear view of a woman plunging from the bridge held up by just a knot of a long rope that leaves her inches from the icy waters below.
New Zealand invented the bungy jump, which comes as no surprise after living an adrenaline junkie’s dream during my weeklong visit. I am here during the 17th annual Meetings 2013 conference in Auckland, followed by a post-trip to Queenstown, on New Zealand’s South Island.
The Fullers ferry harbor cruise is part of a full-day familiarization trip organized by the Auckland Convention Bureau to give hosted buyers and media a quick taste of what the city offers groups.
Our morning starts at the Auckland Museum, where we are greeted by a Maori cultural performance showcasing song, dance and spiritual calls. The grand entrance precedes a reception in one of the museum’s event spaces overlooking the Auckland skyline.
We take an hour to wander the City Works Depot, an old industrial complex now housing creative spaces like Dry & Tea, where patrons indulge in teas and cakes while getting a quick blow dry, as well as foodie spots like popular chef Al Brown’s Best Ugly Bagels—hand rolled, boiled and wood- fired to New York bagel perfection.
Our lunch at Viaduct Events Centre is accompanied by a music quiz for prizes. Music and food are again the theme during the Meetings 2013 welcome function at the Museum of Transport and Technology (MOTAT) Aviation Hall. We sip local wines and beers under the imposing shadow of military aircraft such as the famous de Havilland Mosquito, and listen to the harmonies of that era.
The final night party makes use of Shed 10 on Queens Wharf, a repurposed 100-year-old cargo shed, with sprawling space for endless drinks, food stations and a dance floor.
Just as I am getting the feel for this vibrant city, it is time to head south to Queenstown, the country’s adventure capital.
My flight culminates in movie set views of the mountain-fringed Lake Wakatipu. Straight from the flight, we are led to Glacier Southern Lakes Heli, which takes us on a scenic run to Cecil Peak overlooking the vast Wakatipu Basin. We are allowed time to savor the views with a glass of champagne before they drop us at Skyline Gondola and Luge on Bob’s Peak.
In the evening, I glimpse the city’s oft-photographed purple-hued peaks at sunset before heading out for cocktails and dinner at the sophisticated Hotel St. Moritz.
After admiring Queenstown’s snow-topped peaks, the next morning I squeeze in a two-hour ski run at Coronet Peak, just a half-hour drive from town. PageBreak
From the ski lift to the boat dock, I hop on a water taxi to Walter Peak High Country Farm, as the usual mode of transport, the vintage steamship TSS Earnslaw boat is under maintenance. We warm up with a cozy lunch by the fire and quick tour of the grounds, where we feed some quintessential New Zealand sheep who come running at the sound of food pellets in a pail like cats to a can opener.
After a more comfortable return on the Pacific Jemm charter boat, I sink into my private cliff-side tub at Onsen Hot Pools at the bottom of Coronet Peak.
Back in town, I prepare to meet the group for dinner at the Sofitel Queenstown Hotel & Spa, home of the popular Jervois Steakhouse. A few of us hit the town for drinks, but bars are jammed with boisterous college-age Australians on holiday.
I spend my final full day with a 14-person church group from Atlanta on the Lord of the Rings-Glenorchy tour run by Nomad Safaris. None of them had read the book or seen the movie.
“We just read about the off-roading,” one in the group quips.
We pile into Jeeps for a half-day of driving along hair-raising steep ravines and through running rivers, our guides stopping to point out movie set sites along the way.
We stop to take a turn at gold panning, and I risk the freezing waters to try my luck. “You’ve got the motherlode,” says David Gatward-Ferguson, director for Nomad Safaris. I can barely see the speck.
I recover in the afternoon with lunch and a massage at the expansive Millbrook Resort and in the evening enjoy the final night of the Queenstown Winter Festival with some local music.
My final morning I hop on a KJet boat from my hotel, the Hilton Queenstown, on the north side of Lake Wakatipu for an hour of 360-degree spins and high-speed turns around the lake.
At the concierge desk, I overhear a woman trying to plan her trip.
“So I want to do the jet boating, bungy jump and skydive but I only have one day.”
You’ve come to the right place.
Marlene Goldman is a freelance writer and photographer who has indulged in everything Kiwi, from top wines to the top of the Remarkables.
