A cooler morning with a strong southerly wind dawned as we headed to Queenstown for some retail therapy and an afternoon visiting the historic gold mining town of Arrowtown.
As we parked and emerged from the car jackets were definitely the order of the day, next stop was a bakery for hot coffee. Queenstown shopping area is nice and compact - lots of shops selling NZ products - and plenty possum merino products to peruse......needless to say we bought some - a jacket and fingerless gloves for John and socks and a headband for me as I still preferred the jacket I saw in Wanaka.
Before leaving we went for a light lunch at Brazz, owned by the uncle of a friend in the UK, so we left his best wishes.
Next stop Arrowtown- a beautifully preserved town which oozed history.
After walking around the town we did the 4.2km river walk -the fragrance from the lupins was intoxicating. I watched thrushes hopping in the undergrowth, and with the sheer magnificence of the blue sky, mountains and river John thought he might have died and gone to heaven! We took in more of the scenery while we sat outside, in the now very warm sunshine, drinking a cup of tea before heading back to Wanaka. We stopped a couple of times enroute so I could photograph the extensive carpets of lupins, broom and no doubt other flowers I don't know the names of!