Lake Wakatipu stretches from Kingstown through Queenstown and up to Glenorchy. The Lakeside Youth Hostel in Queenstown won’t sign you in until 230 so we sat in the sun on the lake shore had some lunch and watched the Remarkables - the mountains across the lake.
Once we'd signed in and left our luggage - in a nice double en-suite room - we drove the van to the airport at Frankton a few miles out along an arm of the lake. It was, by then, a lovely afternoon so instead of taking the shuttle bus we walked back along the lakeside which took the rest of the afternoon. We arrived back at Queenstown hot and thirsty and found the Yacht Club Bar overlooking the harbour and sat down to enjoy a couple of beers. At this point, unheralded and for no apparent reason, we were treated to an
amazing display of aerobatics by a really great team. Turned out to be the New Zealand air force display team who had just finished a week's training and were doing a dress rehearsal for their first display at the weekend. A retired Australian flight engineer sitting beside us suggested it was the entire New Zealand air force. We thought he was being rude but it is in fact true that they don't have any fighters on bombers and just rely on helicopters and transport planes to support their soldiers. Sounds quite sensible to me - if you have anything too fancy you are in danger of being shot at by the Americans.
We dined on fish and chips at the YHA and spent the evening planning what to do with our time in Queenstown. We really could do with a few days in one place as our brains are losing track of where we are and what day it is.
Most of the transport here is linked to adventure activities so the air is thick with coaches, jet-boats, helicopters and seaplanes off in all directions to enjoy the adrenaline rush of jumping off into various things -- raging torrents and thin air mostly. Oh yes, of course we are bang in the middle of Lord of the Rings country or LOTR as it is known in the trade. However, if you just want to get somewhere and do your own thing, and with luggage too, it’s not that easy, so we decided to hire a car. The cheapest was from “Jucy Rentals" one of these outfits that also has camper vans with tasteless graphics and graffiti splashed all over. Hopefully the car is more discreet. Seriously, some of the graffiti is really offensive.
We decided to get away from the madness of Queenstown and go to the top of the lake to Glenorchy for a couple of days and then down and around to Te Anau which is the gateway to the Milford Sound. With just a car we needed to book somewhere to sleep. Glenorchy is a tiny place and we could only find a cabin at the town’s campsite. 'Kitchen' cabins are quite luxurious with everything you need for sleeping and cooking provided. 'Standard' cabins on the other hand are little more than plywood tents, though they do have electricity. You share shower, WC with tent campers and can use the camp kitchen. But they are cheap and do the job. For Te Anau we found a website called “book a bach”. Bach (or crib) is in the kiwi name for a holiday cottage - traditionally just a home-made shack but now including some extremely luxurious villas with prices to match. An old-fashioned lakeside cottage took our fancy but the owner was too slow getting back to us so we plumped for a motel room, essentially a kitchen cabin but part of a little development near the town centre and a couple of blocks from the lake.
Ben Lomond
By the time we can all these bookings it was getting on towards lunchtime so we had lunch at the Pig and Whistle (oh the joys of foreign travel) and decided to ease our planned tramp (what they call hiking herein the south) up Ben Lomond
by taking the first section in the gondola which starts from the town centre. The top of the gondola ride has a restaurant and is the start off point for various
adrenaline activities, so we wasted a bit more time watching para-gliders and bungee jumpers. In no way tempted to join either of them, and felt great solidarity with one punter who chickened out at the last minute. He deserved a medal.
Keeping our walking shoes firmly on the ground we headed off for the ‘saddle’, not having time to make the summit and back before dark. As the name Ben Lomond implies this area is not unlike the Scottish Highlands and, as if to make us feel at home, the clouds and rain came
down and as we climbed higher we were rewarded by meeting a herd of wild mountain goats who clearly thought no one would be daft enough to be out on such a day. The clouds and rain only served to make it more Lord of the Rings like. Very atmospheric and hard to believe we were only just above all the madness of Queenstown as no-one else seemed to have wandered far from the gift shop and cafe.
What Car?
Next morning Peter went off on his own to collect the car, taking the bus this time. On arrival at the Jucy Camper Portakabin near the airport he discovered there was no car. In fairness they had e-mailed us to tell us this but Peter had left too early to check e-mails. Over to the airport terminal where there was a whole row of rental companies. All the cheap ones had signs up saying ‘no car available’ so Peter tried going upmarket to Budget. They had nothing small or even medium but could offer us a larger saloon. Feeling panicked as he was supposed to be checking out of the hostel, Peter grabbed this, although it was a bit dear. On walking out to the service area (Queenstown airport is very compact) the car-hop appeared round the corner driving a Ford Falcon XV6 complete with spoiler, low-profile tyres and a range of performance transmission options so extensive we
never managed to explore all them. No worries, it was quite fast enough in shopping mode but he didn't feel quite right parking outside the youth hostel.
Glenorchy
Our first destination – reached along twisting lakeside roads as used in ads for fast cars - was a complete contrast to Queenstown. Glenorchy sits at the top of the lake and boasts one hotel/bar, and one shop and the campsite, in which we had booked our cabin. Being 'standard' this did not include bedding and it was turning pretty cold at nights up here in the mountains. The reception kindly lent us a couple of blankets but we ended up using our tent for the first time, but as an extra layer of bedding.
Once we'd settled in we went for a tour of the town including a trail that left from the old wharf and wandered through two lovely lagoons with dozens of black swans.
However our main reason for coming to Glenorchy was to try one of the ‘Great Walks’ of New Zealand, the Routeburn. In truth this is a 3 or 4 day tramp that requires you to carry in your food and camping
equipment or to book a bunk in one of the huts along the way. Our aim was just to go as far as we could in one day, though by the time we had packed the necessary kit and food ‘just-in-case’ we looked as if we were going the whole way. We sometimes wonder if this need to carry so much stuff results from some vague unconscious memory of post war rationing.
Driving our totally unsuitable car up the un-sealed forest road to the bottom of the track we set off, as always, later than intended. However, we made it up to the second hut before it was time to turn back and it’s a great walk, starting through green primordial forest where fallen trees look like something out of LOTR (not surprising I suppose considering they filmed it here). There are grassy plateaus and raging torrents that you cross by swing bridge that you can make swing even more when Margot is not looking and lots of little birds that don’t seem at all
afraid, in fact they come out to see what you are up to. And all the rivers are a bright bright blue. And the paths are very very steep
Although Peter had packed his torch (just in case) we did in fact make it back down to the car park before dark, in fact well within the time indicated in the guidebook. We must be getting fitter as we certainly didn't reduce the number of photographs we stopped to take.
Too tired to cook we had dinner at the local hotel which promised live music but as the Rugby was on TV the clientele (or was it the band?) wouldn’t allow it to start until the game was over and we were too tired to wait.
Once we'd signed in and left our luggage - in a nice double en-suite room - we drove the van to the airport at Frankton a few miles out along an arm of the lake. It was, by then, a lovely afternoon so instead of taking the shuttle bus we walked back along the lakeside which took the rest of the afternoon. We arrived back at Queenstown hot and thirsty and found the Yacht Club Bar overlooking the harbour and sat down to enjoy a couple of beers. At this point, unheralded and for no apparent reason, we were treated to an
amazing display of aerobatics by a really great team. Turned out to be the New Zealand air force display team who had just finished a week's training and were doing a dress rehearsal for their first display at the weekend. A retired Australian flight engineer sitting beside us suggested it was the entire New Zealand air force. We thought he was being rude but it is in fact true that they don't have any fighters on bombers and just rely on helicopters and transport planes to support their soldiers. Sounds quite sensible to me - if you have anything too fancy you are in danger of being shot at by the Americans.We dined on fish and chips at the YHA and spent the evening planning what to do with our time in Queenstown. We really could do with a few days in one place as our brains are losing track of where we are and what day it is.
Most of the transport here is linked to adventure activities so the air is thick with coaches, jet-boats, helicopters and seaplanes off in all directions to enjoy the adrenaline rush of jumping off into various things -- raging torrents and thin air mostly. Oh yes, of course we are bang in the middle of Lord of the Rings country or LOTR as it is known in the trade. However, if you just want to get somewhere and do your own thing, and with luggage too, it’s not that easy, so we decided to hire a car. The cheapest was from “Jucy Rentals" one of these outfits that also has camper vans with tasteless graphics and graffiti splashed all over. Hopefully the car is more discreet. Seriously, some of the graffiti is really offensive.
We decided to get away from the madness of Queenstown and go to the top of the lake to Glenorchy for a couple of days and then down and around to Te Anau which is the gateway to the Milford Sound. With just a car we needed to book somewhere to sleep. Glenorchy is a tiny place and we could only find a cabin at the town’s campsite. 'Kitchen' cabins are quite luxurious with everything you need for sleeping and cooking provided. 'Standard' cabins on the other hand are little more than plywood tents, though they do have electricity. You share shower, WC with tent campers and can use the camp kitchen. But they are cheap and do the job. For Te Anau we found a website called “book a bach”. Bach (or crib) is in the kiwi name for a holiday cottage - traditionally just a home-made shack but now including some extremely luxurious villas with prices to match. An old-fashioned lakeside cottage took our fancy but the owner was too slow getting back to us so we plumped for a motel room, essentially a kitchen cabin but part of a little development near the town centre and a couple of blocks from the lake.
Ben Lomond
By the time we can all these bookings it was getting on towards lunchtime so we had lunch at the Pig and Whistle (oh the joys of foreign travel) and decided to ease our planned tramp (what they call hiking herein the south) up Ben Lomond
by taking the first section in the gondola which starts from the town centre. The top of the gondola ride has a restaurant and is the start off point for various
adrenaline activities, so we wasted a bit more time watching para-gliders and bungee jumpers. In no way tempted to join either of them, and felt great solidarity with one punter who chickened out at the last minute. He deserved a medal.Keeping our walking shoes firmly on the ground we headed off for the ‘saddle’, not having time to make the summit and back before dark. As the name Ben Lomond implies this area is not unlike the Scottish Highlands and, as if to make us feel at home, the clouds and rain came
down and as we climbed higher we were rewarded by meeting a herd of wild mountain goats who clearly thought no one would be daft enough to be out on such a day. The clouds and rain only served to make it more Lord of the Rings like. Very atmospheric and hard to believe we were only just above all the madness of Queenstown as no-one else seemed to have wandered far from the gift shop and cafe.What Car?
Next morning Peter went off on his own to collect the car, taking the bus this time. On arrival at the Jucy Camper Portakabin near the airport he discovered there was no car. In fairness they had e-mailed us to tell us this but Peter had left too early to check e-mails. Over to the airport terminal where there was a whole row of rental companies. All the cheap ones had signs up saying ‘no car available’ so Peter tried going upmarket to Budget. They had nothing small or even medium but could offer us a larger saloon. Feeling panicked as he was supposed to be checking out of the hostel, Peter grabbed this, although it was a bit dear. On walking out to the service area (Queenstown airport is very compact) the car-hop appeared round the corner driving a Ford Falcon XV6 complete with spoiler, low-profile tyres and a range of performance transmission options so extensive we
never managed to explore all them. No worries, it was quite fast enough in shopping mode but he didn't feel quite right parking outside the youth hostel.Glenorchy
Our first destination – reached along twisting lakeside roads as used in ads for fast cars - was a complete contrast to Queenstown. Glenorchy sits at the top of the lake and boasts one hotel/bar, and one shop and the campsite, in which we had booked our cabin. Being 'standard' this did not include bedding and it was turning pretty cold at nights up here in the mountains. The reception kindly lent us a couple of blankets but we ended up using our tent for the first time, but as an extra layer of bedding.
Once we'd settled in we went for a tour of the town including a trail that left from the old wharf and wandered through two lovely lagoons with dozens of black swans.However our main reason for coming to Glenorchy was to try one of the ‘Great Walks’ of New Zealand, the Routeburn. In truth this is a 3 or 4 day tramp that requires you to carry in your food and camping
equipment or to book a bunk in one of the huts along the way. Our aim was just to go as far as we could in one day, though by the time we had packed the necessary kit and food ‘just-in-case’ we looked as if we were going the whole way. We sometimes wonder if this need to carry so much stuff results from some vague unconscious memory of post war rationing.Driving our totally unsuitable car up the un-sealed forest road to the bottom of the track we set off, as always, later than intended. However, we made it up to the second hut before it was time to turn back and it’s a great walk, starting through green primordial forest where fallen trees look like something out of LOTR (not surprising I suppose considering they filmed it here). There are grassy plateaus and raging torrents that you cross by swing bridge that you can make swing even more when Margot is not looking and lots of little birds that don’t seem at all
afraid, in fact they come out to see what you are up to. And all the rivers are a bright bright blue. And the paths are very very steepAlthough Peter had packed his torch (just in case) we did in fact make it back down to the car park before dark, in fact well within the time indicated in the guidebook. We must be getting fitter as we certainly didn't reduce the number of photographs we stopped to take.
Too tired to cook we had dinner at the local hotel which promised live music but as the Rugby was on TV the clientele (or was it the band?) wouldn’t allow it to start until the game was over and we were too tired to wait.
Coming soon - Milford Sound
1 comment:
think jim wants to do that walk...
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