After turning in my camper van in Christchurch I checked in to my airport hotel and jumped on the bus to head down to the botanical garden to see if the roses were in bloom (recall when I was there a month ago, they were not). Well a month makes a difference in the life of a rose in the spring, because when I got to the rose garden it was a riot of color! I spent a few hours slowly working my way around to all of the blossoms, admiring their color and scent. After grabbing a bite at a restaurant along the river, I jumped on the bus and headed back to the hotel, ready to start the next adventure- my two week stay in the Queenstown area.
Just one small part of the Christchurch rose garden.
Flying domestic in New Zealand is like a step back in time, before 9/11 in the U.S. I self-checked in, got a bag tag and a boarding pass, went directly to the gate and got on the plane. At no time did I have to go through security and at no time did anyone check my ID against my boarding pass. Super simple and no hassles! After driving a camper van around for a month, I was very comfortable driving the small car I rented, even in the dense traffic that exists in Queenstown. My Airbnb was not located in Queenstown proper, however, but in Arthur’s Point, a 10 minute drive northwest past the Queenstown city line. I wanted a place that was peaceful and off the beaten path and the bonus was a hot tub that came with the rental. My plan for Queenstown was to do some touring, chill out a bit, and catch up on work/projects that needed my attention, so I kept a leisurely pace. Arriving at the Airbnb I discovered it was everything I hoped for– there was an amazing view and my hosts, James and Carol, were very welcoming and accommodating. And I definitely got a lot of use out of the hot tub!
Sunrise from my Airbnb. (No photoshopping- these are the actual colors!)
Sunset from my Airbnb. I took a ton of pictures from the deck, trying to capture the different light changes. It was a beautiful view-always.
The next day I headed down to Queenstown to hike the Queenstown hill. The city sits on the shore of Lake Wakatipu and almost immediately backs up into the steep mountains that surround the lake. Queenstown hill is a steep 3 mile hike, gaining 1300 ft of elevation, up to a scenic viewpoint offering 360 degree views. Depending on the source it is rated either as moderate or hard, but for someone who has not worked out on hills for a while, I rate it as hard! The steep slope started early as I walked from the parking lot the three blocks to the trail head. The trail wandered through a forest before emerging into exposed meadow. I took it slow, rested occasionally, but I finally made it to the top and since the weather was perfect, I sat and lingered for a while, soaking in the scenery. As always, going down took half the time as going up. I wandered around the city center for a bit to get a feel for it, stopped at a pub and had some mussels, then headed back to my Airbnb to relax.
The number of small lakes available to try to capture lovely mirror images were too good to pass up. This is one of my favorites.
View of Queenstown from Queenstown hill.
One of my other goals during my stay in Queenstown was to do some wine tasting so after consulting with Carol, who knows quite a lot about the wine scene in the area, I joined a wine tasting excursion. I had to meet them in Queenstown, so I got to the city center early and found a bakery (a place literally called “The Bakery”) to grab a pie for breakfast. The van met me at the meeting point and we proceeded to pick others up at their hotels. There were twelve of us total and we visited four wineries, including one, Gibbston Valley Wineries, that had constructed a cave into the nearby hill for barrel storage. It was interesting learning about the history of wine production in the Otago region (started by two guys about 40 years ago) and the evolution of the industry. The region is world famous for Pinot Noir and I can attest to that, as I found the best Pinot I have ever tasted, and several others that were quite good. Apparently one of the original founders still makes wines and has consistently won international awards for his Pinot Noir. (I am going to order some when I stop traveling!!!) Needless to say I went home with a couple of bottles for my immediate enjoyment…
In the wine cave at Gibbston Valley winery. The Otago valley has some great wines!!
The next day was Saturday and it was cold and overcast so I stayed home and worked most of the day. The other motivating factor driving me to stay put was the Queenstown Marathon, scheduled for Saturday morning. Multiple streets and parking lots were going to be closed most of the day and Queenstown, being a relatively small town, did not have the infrastructure to compensate. The day before, as we were driving through town towards the wineries, we had run into absolutely horrible traffic as all of the race participants headed for the event center to pick up their race packets. Apparently about 15,000 people were in town to run either the marathon itself, the half-marathon or the 10K! Consequently, I stayed away from the chaos.
Lake Wakatipu is long and serpentine, with Queenstown sitting at a bend about half-way down the length. I had driven down the eastern shoreline when I drove from Wanaka to Te Anau earlier in October, but I also wanted to explore the western part of the lake. One of the unique ways to do that was by taking a cruise on the TSS Earnslaw, a coal-fired steamship that has been in operation on the lake for over 100 years. The ship cruises across the lake to the Walter Peak High Country Farm, a working sheep station. The farm also has a restaurant and offers a BBQ buffet, farm tours, and sheep shearing demonstrations. I decided to include the BBQ buffet in my ticket and make an afternoon of it. The cruise across the lake was beautiful. The mountain views change significantly by changing your viewpoint, with new peaks winking into view as you round a corner. The sun was out and the brilliant blue sky competed with the blue hues of the lake. I did take some time to investigate the engine room and watch the men shovel coal into the ovens and watch the two large engines operate.
Picture of the ship taken from my seat at the BBQ. It had dropped us off and was heading back across the lake.
After enjoying the BBQ buffet, with a window seat to enjoy the views, I wandered over to the sheep shearing demonstration. It was actually quite hilarious. The gentleman who did the demo explained that if you position the sheep such that their four legs are not on the ground, they don’t quite know what to do and just sit there confused. He proceeded to illustrate his point, hauling the sheep out of the pen on its back by grabbing two legs. The sheep certainly looked bewildered and was totally docile. Apparently a fast shearer can do a whole sheep in around two minutes. The farm consists of 63,000 hectares of land all backed up into the mountains with no road access, so their thousands of sheep roam freely. Consequently they use border collies trained as sheepdogs to round up the sheep when necessary. We also got a demonstration of how the dogs work,, which consist of crouching and turning a predatory eye on the sheep, forcing them to move by sheer will power. (The collies don’t use barking, unlike some techniques used in England.) It was an impressive display of control. The dogs are highly trained and don’t come cheap, usually costing between $5000-$10,000 NZD!
Sheep shearing demo. The sheep was remarkably chill….
The next day, even though the weather looked marginal, with an overcast sky and threat of rain, I decided to do the walk around Lake Hayes, a small lake east of Queenstown and just before reaching the wine country. I had spotted the lake when we were on the wine tour and noted the walking path. I parked at the lot and set out south around the lake, but after 15 minutes, had to turn back as the path was flooded. A runner passed me, he had run through the water, and informed me the water was ankle deep over the path for about a kilometer. I decided to walk in the other direction and see how far I would get before hitting the flooded area. Circumventing the lake in the opposite direction, I passed by several people with wet shoes, who apparently had waded through the flooded portion. When I reached the flooded portion, I decided to wade through it, but to do so barefoot. Taking off my shoes and socks and carrying them in my hand, I proceeded to gingerly step along the path. I did so gingerly because the path was composed of small, somewhat sharp, rocks; it was slow going. I recalled the guy I saw walking barefoot up the trail, of similar rocks, on the west coast and again, wondered how he did it. It took me a while to clear the kilometer of flooded path, but I made it!
The next sunny day I headed back down to Queensland and bought a ticket for the gondola that provides a lift up to another hilltop adjacent to the city center. The Queenstown gondola is the steepest one in the southern hemisphere and we seemed to be heading directly up! It is possible to walk up the steep mountain face, but I decided to keep my energy for the hike I was going to do at the top. The gondola terminates at a restaurant, overlook point and includes access to a parasailing adventure and luge (on wheels) ride. The location is also a jump-off point for a series of mountain bike trails and the Ben Lomond trek, which goes first to a saddle (called Bob’s saddle) then, for those who are in really good shape, to a summit with 360 degree views. The trek is very steep and is pretty much uphill the whole time. (The 4km to the saddle had an elevation change of about 1km.) Before reaching Bob’s saddle, a trail branched off to Arthur’s Point and emerges just slightly up the mountain from the Airbnb I was staying at. I had hiked part of that trail from the Airbnb, which followed the ridge line around the mountain towards Queenstown, to a different scenic overlook. Today I continued on to Bob’s saddle.
View of the steepest gondola in the southern hemisphere.
View from the gondola on the way up.
Finally, after two hours of steady climbing, I reached Bob’s saddle. The hike up to the summit, another hour past the saddle, is steeper still and very exposed – I decided to stop at the saddle. (Again, missing the physical fitness I had in Nepal…..) The views were wonderful and I hung out for a while soaking them in–yes, this is a theme but New Zealand is everywhere so stunning! Returning down the mountain took only half the time and I sympathized with every person I passed ascending, knowing the climb they had yet to complete. I was starving when I got back to the gondola and decided to head back down to the city center and try the world famous Fergburger, a burger restaurant that apparently is a “must-do” in Queenstown. The establishment included a bakery, bar and gelato counter as well as their famous burger joint. I had tried one of their pies from the bakery and it was tasty but had been on the fence about jumping into the ridiculously long lines to try a burger. But after the hike, as hungry as I was, I thought I would go check the line and make a decision. Since it was around 3pm, and between lunch and dinner, the line was only 15 people deep (instead of twice that!) so I placed my order for a lamb burger. It was good, but I think the hype around the place may be a bit exaggerated.
View of Queenstown from Bob’s saddle.
View into the surrounding valley opposite Queenstown from Bob’s saddle.
My final adventure in Queenstown, before moving to Cromwell for a few days, was a drive to Glenorchy. Glenorchy sits at the northwest top of the lake were the Dart River flows into the lake, draining from the west coast spine of mountains. The number of drives in New Zealand claiming to be the most scenic are numerous, and with good reason, but the drive to Glenorchy was especially outstanding. As the road wound along the bend, exiting Queenstown, I was confronted with an eastern view of the tall spine of mountains I had driven through to get to Milford Sound. (see featured image) As a matter of fact, a twenty minute airplane ride directly over the mountains west of Glenorchy leads to Milford Sound! It took about an hour, with a few stops, to get to the small town of Glenorchy. The paved highway continued about 12km beyond the town before changing to an unpaved, gravel road winding up and back towards several trailheads and multi-day challenging hikes. I stopped in Glenorchy to do some local hiking; rain was threatening again and I did not feel like dealing with a gravel road in a potential rainstorm. The mountains were stunning and it is no wonder that some of the filming of Lord of the Rings took place in this area. After my hike and a bit of lunch, I headed back to Queenstown. It was VERY hard to not try to catch one last glimpse of those impressive mountains in my rear view mirror as I was driving back along the lake!
My last evening at the Airbnb, James and Carol and I sat on the deck and had wine and cheese and chatted. James started a fire in their outdoor fireplace and some neighbors stopped by. It was a nice evening and a perfect send off as I headed to Cromwell for the remainder of my time on the South Island.