Walks Around Queenstown

---

Whilst I was in Queenstown, I decided that I would like to do some walking. There are so many walks here it's hard to choose which one, they're all stunning. I thought the best plan of action would be to try and find a guide, firstly so I wouldn't get completely lost like I nearly did trekking in the Himalayas in my 'gung ho' days, and secondly I wanted to learn something about the lay of the land. New Zealand is a fascinating place, and I enjoy finding out about glaciers and rivers and things like that. So, after a bit of research online, I found and gave them a call.
New Zealand Guided Nature Walks is owned and run by Peter and Karyn Hitchman, they are also the guides. In short, it was fantastic.
I was picked up by Karyn from my hotel at about 1.30pm. I'd opted for the Lake-shore walk, a gentler walk to break me in a bit. We drove out towards Glenorchy, then parked up near the entrance to the bridle track which up until 1962 used to be the only way to get to Glenorchy other than a boat straight up the lake! We walked along the track which ran next to lake Wakatipu, spotting trout, and stopping at points of interest. Karyn's knowledge of the local wildlife was excellent, and she was able to answer all of my questions. We got to eat some of the edible berries pointed out by her, and learn about the medicinal qualities of some of the plants. Karyn told us the Maori legend of the demon in the lake. The lake Wakatipu 'breaths'. It rises up and down by 12cm ever 5 minutes., and this is because the enormous demon is breathing in the bottom. The lake also has five rivers running into it and only one coming out, where the heck does the water go? Perhaps the demon drinks it.. There is speculation of there being an underground river flowing out of the lake somewhere and you can't help wondering when you look out at the 1400ft deep lake where it might be.
The gold rush is an attraction for many tourists, and Karyn pointed out where we could go panning for gold. I can understand 'Gold Fever', even thinking about finding gold made me excited. As we continued along the track, I was surprised how close the birds came to us. They will literally sit on a branch next to you and bounce and sing as if they want your attention. I also drank from a mountain stream that was naturally filtering itself through the trunk of a fallen tree, and it tasted good. I don't think I'd understood what 'pure' water meant until yesterday.
After a couple of hours, we came out onto one of the Lake-shore Beaches in a beautiful calm bay and sat down for a cookie and a cup of tea. It was idyllic.

Once we were back in the van, I decided that I was going to sign up again, for another walk. This time I decided to be brave and go for a full day mountain walk. Ben Lomond, here I come! This mountain sits at the back of Queenstown, way above the Skyline Gondola and is pretty much a straight up trek. You get lunch on the full day walk, fresh pumpkin bread sandwiches made that morning, cookies, fruit, tea and coffee.
I'll be back with more after I've done the walk next week. The only slightly worrying thing is that I'm doing it with eleven Israeli's straight out of the army, I'm sure I won't be able to walk for a couple of days afterwards. Peter and Karyn really make sure that the walk is suitable for your fitness levels, so they must have some faith in me!

---

Photos

Karyn
Our guide, Karyn, showing us some native plants and telling us about the medicinal qualities. This one gives you the runs!

Teatime
Karyn preparing a nice cup of tea with some cookies.

Lake Wakatipu
It really is this blue.

Across the lake
Lake shore walk view

Begining of the walk
Karyn explains about the history of the land.