In a town famous for jumping off things, Skyline Queenstown’s best-known ride asks for no bravery at all. The luge brings speed, laughter and views, with no jumping and no falling. It helped broaden Queenstown’s appeal beyond pure adrenaline.

It all began with the gondola, which opened on 17 November 1967. Rather than treating the mountain as a backdrop, the town made going up it part of the experience. Today’s faster gondola reaches Bob’s Peak in minutes, where there is a restaurant, viewing decks and walking tracks. Mountain bikers ride down, and on calm days paragliders launch above the lake.

On VoiceMap’s Queenstown on Foot tour, you stand at the gondola’s base and hear why the town chose to build upwards when the land ran out. Pause to ride up, then restart the tour on your way back down.