Mountain Biking in Queenstown

Queenstown is known as the "adventure capital of the world," and it very well may be. It also could be called "backpacker capital of the world" or, perhaps more aptly, "thrill-seekers capital of the world." This is mostly because you can bungee jump, jet-boat, river surf, canyon swing or choose any other activity amongst a myriad of adrenalin surging options all within arms reach from Queenstown. Q-town is the first town we've been to in quite a while. Having stayed in villages, the residents of which typically number less than a thousand, Queenstown was a return to population. Only 14,000 or so permanent residents call Q-town their home, but over a hundred thousand typically visit during the xmas/new year's summer break, and during ski/snowboard season. We rolled in late, after hanging at the famous Cardrona pub on the infamous road over the perilous Cook Mtn range road (perhaps too many adjectives here?), and barely made it to the mtn biking shop. We drove up to Skipper's Canyon, a previous gold-mining area right outside of town, where our guide promptly handed us dual suspension mtn bikes, gave a 2-minute tutorial on how not to die, and sent us barrelling down this single track beset with streams, jumps, boulders and other hazards. We somehow navigated all this mess successfully and ended up breathless at the bottom of the canyon where the Shotover River cut an aquamarine ribbon through a deep valley. Then they threw the bikes on a trailer, us in a van and up we went to do it all over again. The road they drove up apparently took years to cut back during the gold rush days. And it looked it. There were multiple points in the gravel road where a late turn or faulty traction would have sent us rolling down steep cliffs to oblivion below. The second run on the bikes was better - we got a little more confidence and could open it up a bit. We had a blast and rewarded ourselves with a night out with some of our mtn biking buddies, and got ready for the drive to Fiordland, one of the most remote and wild areas in NZ.