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Published: February 11th 2007
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Nakamura and Harris
Looking tough enough to beat up some puppies. There's nothing quite like camping when the sun is shining and today was no exception. The skies were bright from the moment we awoke this morning and we loved it by the lakeside so much that we had already decided to spend another day there. Unfortunately, this wasn't how things ended up but at least the reason for moving on was a good one for a change - Lina, our Japanese friend would be in Queenstown, not too far from us, for just one day. We couldn't possibly miss the opportunity to catch up with our excellent chum again, so once again, we hit the road.
We had been warned by a few different people that Queenstown is a totally touristy and pretentious sort of place and their description was completely accurate. It took us ages to find anywhere suitable to park but as luck would have it, our parking meter was broken and the space we had taken qualified for 2 hours' free parking - cool. Lina was waiting for us by the Jet Ride jetty and it was lovely to see her again. She's been offered a job in Gore starting tomorrow so it was brilliant that we
Flying Hearts
Queenstown Airlines also doubles as the local acrobatic display team. could all meet up again today, as we might not have managed it otherwise. We chatted and caught up on our respective road trip experiences - Lina has been doing hers completely alone but travelling by car and staying in hostels on the way.
With the sun getting steadily hotter, we wandered off in search of ice cream but were shocked at the prices everywhere. We spotted a really cool fudge and sweet shop that sold just about everything imaginable although again it was a bit on the pricy side. Lina picked up some giant cola bottles and we all tried some free samples of the delicious fudge. I can still taste that creme brulee fudge on my tongue - mega yum! We finally tracked down some ice cream and sat down to enjoy our final visit together. When our 2 hours were up, we said a sad farewell and left our favourite new friend behind.
Just outside of Queenstown, we had earmarked a DOC site to stay in for the night. 12 Mile Delta looked promising and it even featured in the Lord of the Rings as the location for Ithilien and Faramir's secret camp. Getting to
Queenstown
A view of the waterfront in Queenstown, miraculously without all the tourists! the campground was no mean feat though with a road so difficult to navigate that Glynn likened it to driving along a snake's back while it's shedding its skin and climbing a tree. I hope that makes sense to you! We picked a spot by a lake again though it was not nearly as nice as the picnic awe had stayed in last night.
While Glynn recovered from his daredevil drive, I took a walk around the delta, discovering on the way an unlikely heli-pad that may well have been left over from LOTR filming. The delta looks like it has been carved from a mighty river though I could find nothing more exciting than a tame stream barely 5 inches at its deepest point. Crossing it was another matter though and I tried for ages to find somewhere suitable without getting my shoes too wet. Eventually I found a spot where someone had handily hefted a big chunk of driftwood across the flow. I found a few locations that looked like they may have featured in the movie and made my way back to the van via the toilets. I needed to use the loo but to my
12 Mile Delta
Used as the backdrop to Faramir's secret camp in Lord of the Rings. horror when I lifted the lid of one of the two longdrops, about 30 massive black flies shot straight out and at me. I let out a bit of a scream and legged it back to Glynn and reenacted the terrible scene for him. While I had been gone, he had discovered a few evil sandflies lurking in the area too so it seemed a clear sign to leave.
The next nearest DOC site on the map was at Glenorchy and our Escape Rentals info booklet also listed the lake at Glenorchy as a possible freebie camping location, so that's where we went. We didn't find a decent free spot anywhere and when we got right to the end of the road in Glenorchy, we realised the DOC campsite was actually only accessible by a road on the other side of the lake and we couldn't get to it at all. You can imagine that by now, we were started to get mightily peeved.
Our next desperate idea was to head straight for Wanaka, passing through dull Arrowtown and traversing the stunning Cardrona Valley on the way. The road hairpinned around steep bends and climbed higher and higher
Helipad
A leftover from Lord of the Rings filming? until we didn't think we could go up any more. Then we plunged into the depths of the valley on a twisty road that challenged Glynn's rally driving skills to the limit. We didn't stop in the town of Cardrona which is a pity as it looked nice and had a little crooked old hotel that was ripe for a photo but there wouldn't have been anywhere to camp for free.
Arriving in pretty Wanaka, we were immediately greeted by a sign warning that no camping is permitted anywhere in the town except of course on paid-for sites, so we hotfooted it out of there and instead tracked down a DOC site in nearby Albert Town. It was getting really late by the time we found it (almost 9pm and almost dark) and we were miffed to discover it was $7 per person to stay there. We we exhausted and had no choice but to pick our spot and settle in for the night. There was a fast flowing river close by with the occasional fisherman on the banks trying his luck so the surroundings weren't too bad. It was nice to have access to a flushing loo too
On Reflection
No idea where this lake photo was taken or indeed what Glynn's doing wiht his hands! (and no flies!), so it could have been worse. This cheapskate camping malarkey really isn't as easy as we were led to believe!
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