Down the West Coast to Queenstown

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Dawn breaks Friday with brilliant sun highlighting the peaks visible through the picture windows of our B&B. After a filling breakfast we start south toward our next destination. Along the way we divert to see Mt Cook and a picturesque reflective lake. Unfortunately, fog has settled in around the lake but returning to the highway the mountain is brilliantly highlighted for our camera. We also had the chance to view the Fox Glacier through a forest opening on a side road. Continuing on we enjoy the magnificent mountain/valley scenery with winding roads and single lane bridges. These one way Bailey or historic masonry bridges employ “give way” signs at one end to show right of way. The “temporary” structures are replaced when rain swollen rivers sweep down from the mountains. We did fill up the gas tank at Franz Josef upon advice of our friends and travel guides due to the lack of filling stations. Gas prices here are NZ$2.04-2.22/liter or $6.50 a gal. Several times we stopped to admire and photograph. After we cross the 45th Parallel we stop to photograph the Roaring Meg hydro scheme in the gorge of the same name. A sign points out that while most of NZ’s electricity is produced by large hydroelectric dams, smaller units such as this one play an integral part in supplying local power. We pass through Cromwell valley, site of many wineries, one of which we’ll visit tomorrow before entering the crowded streets of Queenstown. This Vail like atmosphere, typical of resort villages with narrow streets, wandering pedestrians, and fun loving youth, makes finding our rental car drop off site challenging but accomplishable. A short walk to the hotel where we meet and get help from assistant concierge (and Gainsville, FL native) Danielle brings us to our room overlooking the lake and downtown. We dine at a local pub which, upon enquiring, has free wifi, unlike every other place we’ve seen.
Early Saturday morning we find a picturesque breakfast restaurant and await our guide for the day. Elaine brings her van to the door, introduces herself and shares that we’re her only guests today. With that she begins a delightful and informative tour of the area including a stop at the Bungee jumping bridge (we declined the offer to participate), wine tasting at the Gibbston Valley Winery and viewing sights used in the film “Lord of the Rings”. We pause in Arrowtown, a gentrified gold mining town, for a milkshake. This was the place where gold was discovered in 1861 and brought many from NZ and elsewhere to try their luck. Proceeding up the road 45 minutes to Glenorchy we get briefed on our next adventure, a jet boat ride on the Dart River. First we take a bus ride up a paved and dirt road to the boarding point. We’re entertained by the driver who explains how all mammals in NZ were brought in over the centuries, how the government introduced the stout (weasel) from Australia to kill off excess rabbits only to see this predator wipe out 100’s of varieties of birds. They also brought in possums for fur trade that economically disappeared (but the possums didn’t who eat leaves, killing the trees). He explained which parts of the awesome scenery have been employed in movies and advertising to represent other parts of the world, including the scenes from Lord of the Rings and the mountains pictured on the Coors label! His description of the beech tree woods was fascinating: the tall trees get their moisture from the rain, creating a low humidity forest floor which has very little topsoil leaving the trees with a large horizontal root structure. The sand fleas here are as bad as no-see-ums and blackflies at home. After boarding the boat we have a thrilling ride first up river and then down to Lake Wakatipu. Our guide does 360’s interspersed with explanations of rain impacting water levels and river patterns. A great afternoon. Elaine takes us home and we visit a local restaurant, on her recommendation, for an Early Bird Special. Tomorrow the weather will govern our plans.

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