Retracing our path up the winding gravel track from the beach back to the township, the distance seemed shorter than yesterday evening's sunset race. The route south on the SH6 offered little variety but astounding scenery, passing through the Haast Pass.
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| Haaast Paaass |
Around mid-morning, the weather dutifully cheered up and we stopped regularly to soak up the rays on the scenic drive - and also to let pass those drivers who have more power in their vehicles than the Toyota Hiace to manage the steep climbs.
The highway took us along the thin sliver of land that separates the enormous twin lakes of Hawea and Wanaka. The scenery here bears more resemblance to the lochs and glens of Scotland than to the rolling meadows of the North Island.
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| Lake Wanaka |
Shortly after 1pm, we pulled up for a caffeine injection at the pleasant town of Wanaka at the southernmost tip of the eponymous lake. The town was dressed in autumnal reds and oranges and is nestled at the foot of the mountains on the edge of the lake. We sat happily in the sunshine until pressing on to Queenstown.
There are two options to drive from Wanaka to Queenstown. One is to continue on the circuitous, but faster, highway via Cromwell. The other is to take the direct road over the Crown Range. We chose the latter and enjoyed a magnificently autumnal ride through the valley, home to the one-horse 'wild west' town of Cardrona, which seems to have preserved its appearance for tourists. In fact, there was more than one horse, as people were trekking through the fallen leaves in convoy as we passed.
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| Enigmatic Crown Range |
Once over the summit, the descent offered us the first glimpse of Arrowtown - a town founded on the discovery of gold and close neighbour to Queenstown. We entered through Frankton, whereupon the appearance of the surroundings veered towards that of a small French or Swiss Alpine town.
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| View over Arrowtown |
Driving through the few small streets of Queenstown revealed that this was a place geared principally to the outdoor pursuits, as every other shop offered skiing equipment, trekking clothes, or showed a video of someone leaping out of a plane.
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| Autumnal Queenstown |
We drove the short distance to our 'campsite', QBox, which in this case is a fairly scrubby site with a few shipping containers that have been ingeniously converted into a kitchen and shower block. We parked up, hooked in to the electric supply, showered and marched the twenty minutes back into the centre.
The weather was colder than we have experienced thus far - a combination of our southerly location and the approaching winter season. We had decided to treat ourselves by eating out rather than cooking at the campsite and made for what is a Queenstown institution: Fergburger.
Unfortunately, the 'Ferg' is hugely popular and was vastly oversubscribed for its tiny premises. We couldn't face queueing in the cold, so we perused the other options, which like much in Queenstown, proved to be unaffordably priced. Settling on Nam Phrik Thai, we indulged in some comforting SE Asian flavours.
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| Panang curry |
After some slightly disappointing spring rolls (nothing beats Fresh on Ko Lanta), we both had a Thai tofu curry, mine green and K's panang style. Both were creamier than we had tasted in southern Thailand, but, on request, had a pleasant spicy warmth.
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| Bike-on-the-ceiling klaxon!! |
Suitably revived, I insisted we check out Queenstown's purportedly finest craft beer outfit: Atlas. Well situated on the edge of Lake Wakatipu, Atlas was cozy but seemed largely to be a purveyor of Emerson beers, with a couple of offerings (a lager and a hefeweizen) from local Altitude. However, I shamefully chose the dependable Tuatara IPA, which, predictably, did not fail to disappoint.
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