Im not going to give you a list of ‘things you must do’, because that’s for you to decide, but I am going to tell you all of the awesome things we did when we visited in the winter.
Mum and dad came over from England to see me in August last year, and to also experience New Zealand. They were over for 3 weeks, so me and Connor showed them the South Island. We did a road trip around the South, and one of the best bits, was Queenstown. We stayed there for 3 nights, in an apartment via Airbnb (definitely recommend Airbnb).
I was the only one who had visited Queenstown once before (even Connor the kiwi hadn’t!) and I knew there was absolutely once place we had to go to, whether anybody wanted to or not, it’s an unspoken rule when in Queenstown.. any guesses? yep – The Fergburger.

You’ve probably heard a lot about it, (or if you haven’t then listen in) yet you don’t understand what’s so special, it’s just a burger bar right? All you have to do is acknowledge the massive queue outside, which never stops no matter the hour (and yes I am saying its busy at 12am!!) to realise it must be good. If you still don’t believe it by then, then you need to try it for yourself. I believe the Fergburger only uses fresh ingredients, but the true secrets they prefer to keep to themselves. Either way, they will be the best burgers you ever try, in the world. Even mum loved hers, and she’s a hard nut to crack! In fact, if you love burgers then New Zealand is your place to go, I call it the burger capital of the world. (Second favourite burger in New Zealand being the KKK from Kaukapakapa in the North Island, you must try it!!) 
Just next door to the Fergburger, is Mrs Ferg, the bakery, plus a gelateria. I know these aren’t heard of/talked about much, so I just wanted to shed some light on them. Why they are not as well known or raved about I have no idea, because for starters they are not expensive! and secondly, everything you try tastes delicious! I got the best hot chocolate in the world here, and dad tried the chilli hot chocolate, which was the best he had ever tasted too. We also got a sourdough loaf from the bakery, and it tasted just like the ones from home and Europe. (For some reason the bread doesn’t normally taste the same as home, same as biscuits, i’m not sure why, maybe it’s just me?) Anyway, if you want to try some proper tasty bread, or anything, then go to Mrs Ferg. She will sort you out.
Next on the list is Luging, another popular activity in Queenstown. To do this, you have to find the bottom of the Skyline Gondola, (which actually isn’t easy!) and also if you are driving, try find a parking space (which is even harder). Once you’re in the Gondola it’s well worth it, and you start to get an awesome view over Queenstown. Ever find it weird how all the pictures of Queenstown seem to be from the same angle? Thats because they’re all taken from the top of the Skyline Gondola. Once you’re up there you have the choice to take in the magnificent views over lunch (although this isn’t cheap!), paraglide off the edge of the mountain (you need some guts for that), or luge.

What even is lugeing?! To put it basically, You are going down a concrete track, on a kart that is being pulled by gravity, so you can pick up some speed! It is possible to roll these, be flung off, and in the case of our friend Olle, slip a disk in your back (I’ll tag the video soon), so again, it’s not for the faint hearted, but as long as you’re careful you will be fine!
What was great about doing the luge this time, was that the course was covered in snow, which made it an epic view, and even more epic to go down. However I would say, that after doing both Luge tracks in New Zealand, I do prefer the one in Rotorua because its wider, longer, and you can pick up more speed, whereas with the Queenstown one, being on the side of a mountain, its a bit restricted for space. (understandably).

Connor was lucky enough to experience the awesome HydroAttack shark, which is only available in Queenstown, where you sit in a small, rocket powered boat, shaped like a shark, and reach speeds of 80kph whilst it ducks and dives on the water. If you want to see some footage of this, check out my New Zealand Go Pro video on my video page.
As we only had 3 days here we couldn’t fit a lot more in, however we did manage a trip to Cardrona Ski Field, for a day of snowboarding, highly recommend it! You can read all about this in my post about Cardrona. During the summer months you can do downhill mountain biking on the Cardrona ski field, which is pretty awesome!
Whilst we did that mum and dad went for a drive out to Arrowtown, which is about a 20 minute drive from Queenstown. Its a pretty cool little town, all the buildings are wooden, and look just like something from the wild west. It was previously a mining town and theres a mining museum there which is pretty good apparently.
There are so many walking and biking tracks around Queenstown too, i’ve done a couple but hope to do many more in the future. In fact I love Queenstown so much I would love to live there, it’s such a popular place to go, and i’ve noticed if any aussie says they’ve been to NZ its normally to Queenstown, so it must be doing something right!

Have you been to Queenstown? let me know if you try any of these activities or the famous Fergburger!