Queenstown is spectacular! Not only is it incredibly beautiful, there is more to do than almost anywhere I’ve ever visited. Bungee jumping began here in the mid 80s, and despite the fact that I don’t consider myself much of a thrill seeker, (unless you include brushing my teeth with tap water in Bali), we found tons of other things to do that were just exciting enough for all of us.

The first day we arrived we took an hour-long, eco-tour zip line, which included four different zip lines that were about 200 meters each, followed by a luge ride down the mountain. So much fun!

The next day we all went for a two hour horse trek that took us through stunning landscapes and included an area where they filmed Lord of the Rings. They definitely get a ton of mileage out of those movies — lots of “Lord of the Rings” tours available on just about any vehicle you can imagine — boat, ATV, horse, you name it!

The last day we went for a Shotover boat ride. Billed as “the world’s most exciting jet boat ride” — I was immediately wondering why we needed to go on the world’s most exciting jet boat ride –why not the neighborhood’s, or even the town’s most exciting? After all, we were in a place where they take their excitement very seriously — I  didn’t feel a real need to be that excited. It didn’t help that when we were waiting on the dock as the boats came in with passengers from earlier trips, they all looked a bit overwrought. But, I figured this is my year of living dangerously so…what the heck? The ride was actually really fun and exciting — the only part I found too exciting was the part where the driver tries to get as close as possible to the rocks that the boat is passing at about 60 mph. Apparently, this is integral to the excitement — could have lived without that part.