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Published: December 3rd 2013
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Sunday 1st December, 2013. Central Otago, South Island, New Zealand.
We hadn't made any plans for today but had to be in Te Anau this evening as we had reserved the youth hostel there. D fancied looking at the Kawarau Gorge and visiting the wine areas of the Gibbston valley. So after loading up the car off we went.
We first retraced our tracks to Arrowtown but used an alternative, more scenic route to get there. We crossed the Edith Cavell Bridge and pulled in to the visitor centre just the other side. Here it is possible to go jet boating up the Dart River. The graceful bridge is famous in its own right and is a tribute to a WW1 nurse (and also the miner who refused to give up on honouring her memory). Edith Cavell was a British nurse who was executed by German soldiers in 1915 for assisting 200 Allied soldiers excape into Holland from German occupied Belgium. There was international outrage at her execution and the Allies proclaimed her to be a martyr. Her actions inspired people worldwide but none more so than Jack Clark, a miner who lived in a sod hut above the
Arthur's Point Bridge. His official requests to have the bridge named after Edith were declined, so he took matters into his own hands. On the day of the bridge opening in February 1919, he painted "To Cavell Bridge" in large red letters on a sign visible to all those coming to the ceremony. To ensure the name stuck, Jack then painted "Edith Cavell Bridge" on the bridge itself. By the time the paint had faded away Jack had got his wish and Edith Cavell had her long lasting memorial!
We continued out of Arrowtown and turned up towards the Gibbston Valley. Our first stop was the Kawarau Suspension Bridge. This bridge was opened in 1881 and provided the first permanent means of crossing the Kawarau River, replacing the punt at Morven Ferry. Now however, the bridge is now home to the FIRST commercial bungy (also spelled bungee) jumping operation in the world pioneered by A J Hackett. We parked in the car park and made our way down to the free viewing platform where we watched a few mad people jump off the bridge with the elastic band attached to their ankles. W had always wondered how people were
retrieved from a bungy jump. In this instance an inflatable boat goes over to them and hooks the jumper in with a long pole. They are then flopped into the bottom of the boat (like landing a huge fish) and released from the elastic band. It is a most ungainly retrieval! There was also zip lining for the more faint hearted. This was mostly taken up by the Oriental tourists - it was only the white tourists who were throwing themselves off the bridge. The complex is very modern with a huge TV screen showing the jumpers with souvenir shops and, of course, the ticket offices. It cost 180 $NZ (nearly £100) to jump off - but you do get a free DVD and a T shirt to commemorate your madness.
We continued on until we reached the Gibbston Valley (about 15 minutes further along the road). This valley was put on the map by Alan Brady who was one of the pioneers of Central Otago wine. In a former life a journalist from Northern Ireland, he planted 500 vines here in 1981, although he emphasizes that he wasn’t the only one experimenting then. At the time he tried
lots of varieties, including Chasselas and Müller Thurgau. It was initially just a hobby, but the encouraging results spurred him on to release his first commercial wine in 1987 and the Gibbston Valley winery was born. It was at this winery that we (by good chance) decided to stop for a tasting and tour.
Our guide, Aaron, first took us to the vineyards and showed us the Pinot and Reisling grapes growing on the vines. They were just about to flower, and then after that the flowers will turn to fruit. A range of wines are made here, but – of course, it being Central Otago – the focus is on Pinot Noir. These Pinots are superb: among the region’s very best. We tried some 2012 Pinots from the barrel, in the winery’s cave, which was built in 1998. It’s a proper subterranean cellar, drilled and blasted into the schist hillside. The cave was built in just three months . It has a natural temperature of 13/14 °C which is warm enough for malolactic fermentation to take place. We purchased 3 bottles (for Christmas!) and continued on or journey up the valley.
We pulled off the road and
took a few pictures of the river. We couldn't ge much of a view though so continued on until we reached the Roaring Meg Lookout. The Roaring Meg (Te Wai a Korokio) is the turbulent stream that both drives the Hydro Electric Power Station that we could see from the viewpoint and also where this stream merges with the Kawarau River. Not all of NZ's hydro electricity is generated by big dams. Many smaller power schemes were developed in co-operation with gold mining. in this region they were the only electricity source until connection to the National Grid in 1957. The source here is a 10 metre high dam 3.6 km up the Roaring Meg.
Next stop was the Goldfields Mining Centre. We wanted to do a tour but the next one would not have allowed us to make our next destination at a good time so we decided to give it a miss. We took some pictures though.
We returned to Queenstown and filled up with petrol and had a McDonalds. Then we started on the Southern Scenic Drive. This drive actually goes all the way to Dunedin. However we completed the first part along the shores
of Lake Wakatipu and on to Te Anau. The drive was fantastic and the views stupendous. We stopped a number of times to take some pictures. On the way we stopped at a little place called Kingston, which is famous for its steam locomotive with runs from Kingston to Fairlight. We drove down to the station and established (or so we thought) that the train would be arriving at 3 pm in about 40 mins. We decided to go to the pub and have a beer. Good job we did as the guy at the bar informed us that the train was not running at all. Apparently it did last year but, due to bad management, it was not running this year. He explained, though, that we could walk along the tracks (completely safe as no trains) and see the locomotives and rolling stock. We finished our beers and went down to take a look. We found the engines and took some photos.
Then we continued on our way to the Youth Hostel at Te Anau. It is a really nice, quirky one with a lovely garden. We did a shop, had a G & T. Liver for dinner.
We went to bed early as we have to get up early tomorrow for our trip to Milford Sound. Today, given that we had no expectations, has been a really lovely day.
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