wanderweg

Since it is our last day in Twizel, we wanted to go a little further afield in the other direction near Omarama. We had been told that the new part of the A2O bike trail was one of the best parts of the trail. It is new and has been purpose built by Cycle Journeys to cover the area from Sailors Cutting through to Otematata where you used to have to cycle along the road. Also, the path from Omarama to Sailors Cutting had been improved with a new surface. This was considerably better than the loose metal we struck a few years back. Also the last part of the trail into Oamaru has been finished and is now off the road. We parked at Sailors Cutting and set off through the camping ground and onto ... read more

We set off to Cycle Journey's this morning to rent bikes for the day. A smile by me because an ebike was available. Cycle Journeys now have quite a large operation in Twizel and it seems to be running a very good, helpful business. After some advice on a route to take near Twizel we set off on a cloudy and coolish morning. We took the route used by the A2O trail through to the canals and then hung a right instead of a left and biked out along the Pukaki Canal. The canals have roads on both sides but we took the sealed side towards Lake Pukaki. The roads are elevated above the farmland which stretches across the whole McKenzie Basin in one large tussock filled basin. Irrigation has now been introduced so patches are ... read more

A most stunning day. Yet another fine, clear and calm. We left our most comfortable home for the last week (Settlers Motel), had our last coffee at Provisions and set off for Cromwell. I was staggered to see how many more vineyards have been planted in the Gibbston and Dunstan valleys since we were last here. Then, there were patches here and there, now, there are kilometres of wall to wall vines. These are all planted on the north facing terraces. Above the terraces are barren hills of rocks and not much else - matagouri and sparse tussocks. Our first stop was at Roaring Meg in the gorge to take a look at the gushing blue water and small power station. Also some swimmers in the water with boards to float down the rapids. Out of ... read more

Today was a Wanaka day so up and over the Crown Range again. This is our most favourite place in all New Zealand so we wanted to go and soak it up while it's still peace and loveliness without mass tourism. The weather was perfect - clear, sunny and windless apart from the cloud at the top of the range to drive through. My gosh, I just LOVE this climate. No wind. Unbelievable. And the best part (I can hear the detractors already) you don't have to walk through hours of bush to see the view! I should mention that despite our love of the area it is very barren, rocky and hilly. No doubt winter is pretty severe too. The hills are covered in tussock, rocks, matagouri and merino sheep. Beauty with a rough background. ... read more

The morning started cold and cloudy. We had our morning pilgrimage down town for our morning coffee and picnic supplies for lunch. We also visited the really good district museum which is a "must see". It shows the tough and unruly lives of those who came here in the early years mainly to seek gold. It seemed that most men would have wasted any gains on booze. There were 18 pubs just for Arrowtown and a whole lot more for Queenstown. It must have been awful. No wonder they brought in the temperance movement. The museum has a fine collection of items from the past and the portrayal of the various types of businesses (papers, bakers, banking, transport, education, supplies etc) was very well done. It's a bit disconcerting to see how many items I could ... read more