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Published: April 29th 2008
Queenstown & Glenorchy
Lake Wakatipu looking towards GlenorchyQUEENSTOWN & GLENORCHY THE REES & DART RIVER VALLEYS
The following day we had planned to visit Queenstown for the day. Queenstown itself is not our sort of town, far too touristy, but the surrounding areas have an amazing array of outdoor activities and great scenery.
One of the reasons for this trip was that my sister Bronwen and her husband Sakaye and our friends Donna and Dick from British Columbia had given us some money to spend on something special during our holiday. The plan was to take the TSS Earnslaw steamship evening dinner cruise on Lake Wakatipu from Queenstown to Walter Peak Station (sheep and cattle not trains) for an enjoyable evening out.
We called into the quaint old gold mining town of Arrowtown on the way and visited our favourite bakery, the Arrowtown Bakery, Their variety of home made pies is amazing, I decided to try the Apricot and Chicken and wasn't disappointed.
Hey Sakaye take a look at this Custard Square, it was huge and the custard oozed out each side of it as I ate it sitting on a park bench overlooking the Arrow River, where last year during
Queenstown & Glenorchy
Monster Custard Square from the Arrowtown Bakery a 4WD trip we lost the number plate off the front of the 4WD, doing river crossings on the way to Macetown (we turned back on that occasion when water kept coming over the bonnet as we don't have a snorkel), but intend to do it again another time when the river is lower.
We were soon in Queenstown and arranged our dinner cruise to Walter Peak Station on the TSS Earnslaw, but first there were 4WD tracks to be explored and some great scenery to be taken in.
Last year when we were in the area and staying at the Queenstown YHA which is on the shores of Lake Wakatipu we had an hour or so before sunset one evening to fill in so we drove to the head of Lake Wakatipu to Glenorchy, unfortunately it was already starting to get dark when we set out on that trip and we didn't see a lot, except the sunsets on the lake were fantastic. On that occasion we both agreed that a return visit was a must in the future. I also had fond memories of tramping in the Dart, Rees and Greenstone Valleys during fitter and younger
Queenstown & Glenorchy
Lake Wakatipu looking towards Frankton years of my life so, it was also going to be a trip down memory lane for me.
This time we intended to spend the day at the head of the lake and do some serious exploring. The trip to Glenorchy follows the lake, sometimes along the shore and at other times high on the bank above.
Glenorchy is a small town and is a base for outdoor adventure activities, with jet boat trips on the lake and up the rivers and transport links to the tramping trips on the two rivers that feed into the head of the lake, the Rees and Dart Rivers.
The Steamer Wharf and Goods Shed at Glenorchy is still there the Goods Shed was built by the "New Zealand Railways" as the Lake Steamship TSS Earnslaw was originally owned by NZ Railways and ran daily scheduled passenger and freight services to Glenorchy up until the 1960's when the road was completed from Queenstown.
Once again time dictated that we would only have enough time to explore the Dart River Valley. I was concerned that we wouldn't be back to Queenstown in time for our cruise so we spent
Queenstown & Glenorchy
Lake Wakatipu looking towards Walter Peak Station most of the day up the Dart Valley. Midway between Glenorchy and the end of the road is Diamond Lake, the conditions were perfect for photo's of the mountains and forest reflecting in the still waters of the lake, the only sounds to be heard were the honking of a pair of Paradise ducks and the occasional flop of trout rising to feed in the lake.
The road continues on through some lovely Beech forest past the the Arcadia Homestead and then you arrive at Paradise, there is no sign to say you have arrived, just a location on the map and Paradise it truly is . I believe some of the filming for Lord of the Rings was done in and around this vicinity.
We stopped short of the end of the road at a river crossing where we came across an Australian couple parked up in a motor home beside the river. We chatted for about 10 minutes about what a gre4at place it was and he said to us that they had both travelled the world extensively and never before had they been to a place as beautiful as this. (Not bad from an
Aussie Eh)
Sheryll wanted to continue on to the end of the road, but time was running out so we turned around and headed back to Queenstown for our evening dinner cruise.
Another time maybe we will get to the end of this road !!
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Sandra Ewen
non-member comment
Glenorchy....
Hi Muzza & Sheryl, for a moment I thought you were in Scotland when I read Glenorchy. I'm currently here enjoying similar scenery but of course NZ is much better. I'm up in the glens of Perthshire with a cousin and his Shetland ponies and and a daft old dog called Bob. I left Syria about two weeks ago so I'll have a break here then go back in another two weeks, inshallah. Sandra Ewen