Day 2 Twizel to Queenstown May 20
Travelled on through the High Country, very few ‘stations’ as the farms are known, as in Australia. Very brown countryside all around. Went through the Lindis Pass, very dramatic and stark. Again, full of admiration for those early pioneers who found these routes, how did they do it? Struck lucky again when we stopped for brunch in the middle of nowhere, a tiny place called Tarras but I recommend it if you’re passing! Had an up-market clothing shop attached, very strange really but I guess it’s on a tourist route so they must make money. Hilary really loved a merino wool cardigan, very stylish and a bit unusual but she reckoned there would be more choice in Queenstown. Wrongly as it turned out, she never saw something similar again and is still regretting not buying it at the time! Arrived in Wanaka, where we stopped for a brief walk round, and experienced the delight of the only heated public toilets I have ever come across, right on the lake-front. Wanaka is an up-market resort now, apparently on their first trip around NZ when they arrived 14 years ago,my ex brother-in-law wanted to buy a motel here, pity they didn’t really, would’ve made lots of money. However, as Hilary says, Gordon isn’t a handyman & guess who’d have ended up doing all the work? Also, she was very much in culture shock, having lived in cities all her life, & at the time South Island was even more basic than it is now. We saw one lonely penguin sitting on the wharf, I guess all his buddies had gone South already!
Took an unforgettable road from Wanaka to Queenstown, through Cardrona. We hadn’t realised we were so high up, until we came to a scenic look-out which definitely had spectacular views of the mountains & valleys all around. Fortunately Hilary said just drive on to me, because knowing my fear of heights it also had a view of the road we were about to go down, and I probably wouldn’t have been able to do it! We were incredibly high up, and coming down that through one hairpin bend after another with sheer drops at the side is not an experience I wish to repeat in a hurry! However, at least there were safety barriers (ALMOST all the way down!) & the snow didn’t arrive till that night. When we returned to Queenstown on Friday the mountains were covered in it, so that would’ve been ten times worse.
We visited Arrowtown, originally a goldrush town, now very ‘twee’ and expensive. Erola remembers the river here as a beautiful blue, it was only a trickle when we were there. She had told us that Queenstown had been taken over by Asians, and she was right. Every business seemed to be run by Japanese/Chinese, and there were loads of Far Eastern tourists. I continue to be extremely surprised by the blatant prejudice of Kiwis, I have to say I can understand their resentment that one of their towns has been virtually ‘taken over’, but then they were slow to see the potential. We stayed overnight in a Backpackers, which was en-suite but not so good as Twizel and much more expensive. We ate out at one of the oldest restaurants in town, also expensive! QT is full of young people, for all the adventure activities I suppose, and not really our sort of place. I would've liked to take a trip on the SS Earlshaw, pictured above, but the timing wasn't right. I will be back I'm sure. Didn't go up the gondola either, that fear of heights again, & Hilary has already done it.
Travelled on through the High Country, very few ‘stations’ as the farms are known, as in Australia. Very brown countryside all around. Went through the Lindis Pass, very dramatic and stark. Again, full of admiration for those early pioneers who found these routes, how did they do it? Struck lucky again when we stopped for brunch in the middle of nowhere, a tiny place called Tarras but I recommend it if you’re passing! Had an up-market clothing shop attached, very strange really but I guess it’s on a tourist route so they must make money. Hilary really loved a merino wool cardigan, very stylish and a bit unusual but she reckoned there would be more choice in Queenstown. Wrongly as it turned out, she never saw something similar again and is still regretting not buying it at the time! Arrived in Wanaka, where we stopped for a brief walk round, and experienced the delight of the only heated public toilets I have ever come across, right on the lake-front. Wanaka is an up-market resort now, apparently on their first trip around NZ when they arrived 14 years ago,my ex brother-in-law wanted to buy a motel here, pity they didn’t really, would’ve made lots of money. However, as Hilary says, Gordon isn’t a handyman & guess who’d have ended up doing all the work? Also, she was very much in culture shock, having lived in cities all her life, & at the time South Island was even more basic than it is now. We saw one lonely penguin sitting on the wharf, I guess all his buddies had gone South already!
Took an unforgettable road from Wanaka to Queenstown, through Cardrona. We hadn’t realised we were so high up, until we came to a scenic look-out which definitely had spectacular views of the mountains & valleys all around. Fortunately Hilary said just drive on to me, because knowing my fear of heights it also had a view of the road we were about to go down, and I probably wouldn’t have been able to do it! We were incredibly high up, and coming down that through one hairpin bend after another with sheer drops at the side is not an experience I wish to repeat in a hurry! However, at least there were safety barriers (ALMOST all the way down!) & the snow didn’t arrive till that night. When we returned to Queenstown on Friday the mountains were covered in it, so that would’ve been ten times worse.
We visited Arrowtown, originally a goldrush town, now very ‘twee’ and expensive. Erola remembers the river here as a beautiful blue, it was only a trickle when we were there. She had told us that Queenstown had been taken over by Asians, and she was right. Every business seemed to be run by Japanese/Chinese, and there were loads of Far Eastern tourists. I continue to be extremely surprised by the blatant prejudice of Kiwis, I have to say I can understand their resentment that one of their towns has been virtually ‘taken over’, but then they were slow to see the potential. We stayed overnight in a Backpackers, which was en-suite but not so good as Twizel and much more expensive. We ate out at one of the oldest restaurants in town, also expensive! QT is full of young people, for all the adventure activities I suppose, and not really our sort of place. I would've liked to take a trip on the SS Earlshaw, pictured above, but the timing wasn't right. I will be back I'm sure. Didn't go up the gondola either, that fear of heights again, & Hilary has already done it.
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