Queenstown, New Zealand

Queenstown is know as the party town of New Zealand and it definitely lives up to its reputation. With ridiculously good 2 for 1 deals on top of the exchange rate, it barely cost anything either. I hiked up to the mountain overlooking Queenstown for a good panorama of the area. Other than nightlife, there isn't a whole lot to do in Queenstown itself (the population is only 30,000), but there are tons of activities in the area for adventure enthusiasts. Be prepared to pay top dollar for it though.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Details:
Lake Matheson is just outside of the town of Fox Glacier and is found by going down the main road that Ts at the road going through the town. Awhile down that road, there is a sign marking the turnoff. The nakedbus (operated by Tracknet here) cost me $1 because I got the special fare they occasionally offer. They pick up just outside of the Fox Glacier Guiding building. They drop off in the center of Queenstown, an easy walk to anywhere on Camp St. and Shotover St. Just walk up the hill on Camp St. and make a left at Isle St. to Southern Laughter, the hostel at which I stayed ($15 for dorms). It is pretty standard fare for BBH hostels but they do usually have ensuite kitchens and bathrooms for the dorms and lots of jokes painted on the walls. The hike to which I referred goes to the same place that the Gondola does and is quite steep, which took me about an hour going up. You can find it just to the left of the Gondola entrance and ticket office. Reportedly, it is easy to jump on the Gondola for the ride down without paying but I didn't hear this in time to make use of it.