Plunge right in with a bungy jump in Queenstown

If you've come to Queenstown to relax, keep on truckin'.

Queenstown is the adrenalin capital of the Southern Hemisphere, a veritable Las Vegas for adventure junkies where daredevils gamble with their lives and lunches.

The secret has long been out on this small city which bustles with the energy of a cosmopolitcan metropolis and where it's hard to meet anyone who was actually born here. At its busiest, Queenstown has just as many tourists as locals (the permanent population is around 10,000 people).

Although somewhat blighted in recent years by massive residential development, Queenstown is superbly situated beneath the snow-capped peaks of the aptly-named Remarkables and at the end of the electric blue Lake Wakatipu.

Fantastic views of the city are afforded from the top of the town's gondola and even better ones are on offer if you climb two hours further to the top of Ben Lomond.

Queenstown is a wallet-sapping place. There are temptations aplenty: excellent pubs and restaurants, classy waterfront hotels, not to mention every man and his rubber band trying to sell you a one-way ticket off a bridge.

Bungy jumping was invented here and skydiving, parasailing, paragliding, parapenting, canyon swinging, skiing, snowboarding, heli-rafting and jetboating are other stomach churners on offer. Opportunistic locals are forever coming up with new ways to scare the living daylights out of tourists.

Queenstown is just a spoke's throw away from four world-class ski fields: the Remarkables, Cardrona, Treble Cone and Coronet Peak. Heli-skiing operators will also take adventurous types out to tackle back-country ski runs. June is a great month to visit Queenstown when the annual Winter Festival is in full swing.

Queenstown's Frankton airport is serviced by flights from Australia as well as frequent domestic flights.