Three-time Guinness World Record-holder Daniel Bull, 44, was invited to Queenstown by Property Council of New Zealand to be a keynote speaker at its annual property conference which was deliberately themed ‘Navigating the Peaks: Seizing the Cycle’.
At 36, Bull became the youngest person to climb the highest summits and volcanoes on all seven continents.
While completing the feat on the world’s highest volcano, Ojos del Salado, on the Argentina-Chile border in 2017, he saw a high-up frozen lake which he subsequently kayaked and later swam to create two additional ‘highest altitude’ world records.
Speaking to Mountain Scene , Bull says while flying in here "all of a sudden I felt a comparison to Switzerland, and I just instantly felt relief and at peace".
"I think I hadn’t even made it to the hotel and I was WhatsApping the family, saying ‘we’ve got to come to Queenstown’.
"Whether it’s realistic or not, already in the short amount of time I’ve been here I’m just dreaming of buying a property, it’s just one of those places that just inspires and captures the imagination."
Having worked and climbed in Europe for 10 years, including stints in Germany and Switzerland, "people were shocked when they asked, ‘oh, you’re from Australia, you love climbing, how often have you gone to NZ?’
"And, ashamedly, I’d tell them I’d never been — it’s like the same in Australia, I’ve seen so little, you know it’s right there so you take it for granted.
"Because I’ve been stuck on the speaking circuit for the last number of years, I’m in and out of airports, in and out of cities, but coming in here was such a thrill."
