First site of New Zealand - landing in Queenstown

Flying into New Zealand is quite an experience as the landing at Queenstown effectively means that the pilot is banking the plane into the valley between mountain peaks that you can look directly out of the side windows at - if there were hikers on the hills we could probably have read their maps!! Wonderful landing on a tiny runway for jets…
After descending the steps form the plane and crossing the tarmac to the terminal building, customs proves to be small and efficient leading directly out into a small baggage reclaim area (where I discover my bag has clearly been left out in the rain and several items inside are soaked!! Doh!!) then onto the lounge area for arrivals and departures (same place) with attached shopping mall and lots of car rental options… There are only two planes here so it’s very quiet… A shuttle bus costs just $6/~£3 and takes just 15mins to whisk you to the city (village?) centre. Queenstown is TINY - I walked around it in no time at all and found it consisting of little more than a matrix of streets packed with outdoor activity related shops and tour outlets positioned by the edge of a beautifully tranquil lake. It reminded me of what parts of England were like 20 years ago :) Brilliant.
The YHA (Central) is less than £20 a night and has all the mod cons you would expect with lots of activities bookable at a discount from the desk - Staff are fabulous and know a lot about the local area and the people are amazingly friendly. And to cap it all there is currently an exchange rate of $2 to the pound with prices the same as Oz… So saving about 40% off prices including Internet fees!!
The landscape here is breathtaking and even though I only had time for a short hike around the local lake I got to see the sunset over the surrounding hills while buskers serenaded the tourists. Loving New Zealand already and would live here in a heartbeat. To celebrate arrival in Queenstown I ate at the waterfront steak house for $50 (£25) it was mouth-wateringly good and came with English mustard and all the trimmings but after days of pasta it was just what I needed and I got a free beer :)
Queenstown is the place to come if you are after adventure sports or any outdoor activity - it is at he heart of everything including: Bungee jumping/swinging, Para-gliding, gliding, Luging, horse riding, sailing, power boating, canyoning, tramping (hiking), mountaineering, climbing, sky diving, hand gliding, flying (including two tiger moths!!), heli hiking (including glaciers), ice climbing, LOTR touring, mountain/road biking… the list goes on… Most are a little pricy but look exhilarating and I am just deciding which ones to have a go at ;) Will report in a few days… One thing is for sure - I am not going to be bored here ;)