We have been to several places in the last few days around Queenstown, so I've put them all together but titled them seperately within the blog. This area has so much to offer, so we had to make some tough choices about what we really wanted to do, along with time and cost constraints!
WANAKA
On the way to Wanaka, we stopped to take photos of the lake. It is huge!! We arrived quite late in the afternoon, so waited for the next day to have a look at the lake. The town is mostly used as a ski base, so has a lot of bars and restaurants. We decided to leave the skiing until we have the time and money to do a full week of lessons etc, so after walking along the shores of the lake we headed off. As we left Wanaka the signposts were trying to take us to the SH6 which was a much longer route towards Queenstown. We headed back to find the SH84, which on the map looked much more direct, and headed off along this road. We soon found out why we had been directed the other way, but were pleased we had chosen this route. As we approached the road there was a sign to say we could only use it if we had snow chains - which we had. We then climbed through the mountains, and through some snow, but not too much on the roads, and stopped at a view point which told us this was the highest road in New Zealand. The drive was amazing, but some really tight corners as we zig-zagged down the mountain.
ARROWTOWN
On the way to Queenstown we stopped off at Arrowtown. This is a very pretty little frontier style town with one main street of shops. We tested lots of fudge at the sweet store, and eventually bought some too, then went to see the Chinese Settlement. This is set out like an outdoor museum, with some remainders of the huts that the Chinese used when they came over for the gold rush. It was nice, but so cold outside that we didn't stay long!
QUEENSTOWN
We had mixed feelings about Queenstown. As we arrived we could not find anywhere to park, which is unusual for NZ, and all the carparks had height restrictions which prevented us going in. We ended up checking in at a nearby campsite, just to find somewhere to put the van, and paying more for one night than we had paid for any hotel in India or South East Asia! So, if you go to Queenstown, don't go to the Top 10 Holiday Park (or any of these as they are all expensive). We then took a walk into the town and found it to be very pretty, but also very expensive and full of tourists. There are so many activities to do here, but all require a fair amount of money, so when you're trying to stick to a budget it's not a great place to be. We decided to book onto a Milford Sound trip for the next day, to save Graham some driving. We also thought that a full day trip was a better way to spend our money than on some extreme sport that would only last a few minutes, even seconds. We'll save that for later on, if we have any money left!
MILFORD SOUND
This was a very long daytrip, as the drive is about 4 hours or so from Queenstown due to weather conditions and the ever winding roads. On the way we stopped off quite a few times to see various sights and take short walks, eg. we saw Mirror Lake and Monkey Creek. It was nice to be given a commentry of information along the drive and on the way home we got to see the movie 'The Fastest Indian' which prepared us well for the next part of our journey (see the next blog, and if you've not seen the film, I definatley recommend it). As for Milford Sound, we were a little disappointed. I think however, this is because we came through the Marlborough Sound as we entered the South Island, and we have spent the last week looking at amazing mountains and lakes. Had we gone straight to Milford Sound we would have been amazed, but as it is so famous, I think we were expecting more. This said, it was still a fantastic sight, and I'm pleased that we did it. As the boat takes you out into the Tasmin Sea and you turn around to re-enter the sound the view is spectacular. Such a shame poor Captain Cook never found it (apparently he sailed straight past it 3 times!) We also got to see seal pups and bottle nosed dolphins and some great waterfalls. The sounds of New Zealand are all apparently named wrongly because they are actually fiords. We were given the full explanaition for all of this, but I can't remember the details, something to do with being formed from glaciers (I think) I really must pay more attention next time!
We also missed the England Germany match, but I hear it wasn't worth watching.....
Maggie x