Queenstown - Day 10

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We're heading back to the starting place of our journey - Queenstown. But first we start the day with a shower and pack up our things. Have some breakfast and decide to have a quick stop along Lake Wanaka's shoreline just to take in the peaceful sunrise before starting our day. Wanaka is really beautiful and I imagine it just gets better in winter. The sunrise is beautiful as it splashes reddish & bluish paint over the mountain tops in the horizon. The route today is short but the views promise to be amazing as we drive on the Crown Range Road (It's the highest main road in New Zealand).

First Stop - Cardrona. Cardrona is a quaint historic town (like so many others we've seen in the South Island) but has its own charm and beauty. Looks like a ghost town but Im sure it comes alive in the Ski season.

Second Stop - The Crown Range Summit Pass. What amazing views was all I could think, at the top of the Crown Range, we could for miles and miles below. Hardly any traffic, so peaceful. A guy on stopped on his bicycle, he was going down to Arrowtown and enjoying the ride. What motivates someone to ride alone for hours. I quite admire such people.

Third Stop - Arrowtown. The ride to Arrowtown was so twisted with hairpin curves all the way down from the Summit Pass. Arrowtown is a historic gold mining town in the Otago region of the South Island of New Zealand. Arrowtown is located on the banks of the Arrow River. There are many well preserved buildings used by European and Chinese/Shinto Japanese immigrants dating from the gold mining days of the town. So we happily explored the town museum and the lovely little town. Sat and enjoyed an icecream and posed by the flash vintage cars. By now my sandfly bite were unbearable and the cream was doing nothing for me, I had practically scratched myself black and blue. Finally decided to go to a pharmacy and got some anti-histamine tablets that were non drowsy and I was the only one driving. THe people were so friendly at the pharmacy, the lady felt so sorry for me and decided I need one tablet then and there so organised me a glass of water and wished me a speedy recovery - in Auckland its all about the sale, no after service (go and get your own glass of water).
After the exploring was done, we bought some lunch and Angie finally bought a bottle of Speights (Pride of The South) to have with lunch. We sat in the park and enjoyed our lunch - the beer was pretty vile tasting to me and one sip was all I could handle, Angie enjoyed the whole bottle. Then it started raining and we ran to our car. By now Angie, who hardly drinks alt all, was pretty tipsy and giggly - quite entertaining😊

Fourth Stop - Shotover River. The Shotover Bridge runs through Stotover Canyon from where the Stotover Jetboats operate. In the background is the historic "Edith Cavell Bridge" - we had seen the bridge and seen a detour so had decided to stop and enjoy the bridge views and while exploring we discovered the Shotover Jetboat rides and went to view the screaming riders. That done - we decided to move on as we wanted to get to Queenstown in time to catch the Skyline Gondola ride.

Fifth Stop - Gondola Ride, Queenstown. Reputed to be the steepest lift in the Southern Hemisphere, the gondola carries visitors high above Queenstown to the Skyline complex located on Bob's Peak. Numerous observation decks around the complex offer breathtaking views of Coronet Peak & The Remarkables, over Queenstown and across Lake Wakatipu to Cecil and Walter Peaks. Truly magnificent and awe-inspiring. Having paid, we waited for our Gondola and up, up and way we went. There was only the two of us in our gondola - we oooohed & aaaaaahed all the way up and took lots of pic of scared faces (not scared at all - just pretending) - the view were truly breathtaking. Then we spent time in the gift shop looking for some final gifts for the family. I found a watch that I liked straight away but knew Angie had desperately been looking for a cool watch since the one she bought in South America died within a month, so I showed it to her. As I guessed she loved it & bought it. Then we went of to obversation decks to enjoy the fantastic scenery below. Explored for a while and then it was time to take the Gondola ride back down, Angie was very pleased with her watch. I think I might borrow it sometime.

Final Stop - Backpacker Hostel. It started raining and we set to work, unloading the car of all the shells, rocks, driftwood, kelp, empty chips and sweets packets. The car was full of everything - over the trip we had created a two good boxes (one with dry ingredients - spices, veges etc and the other with wet ingredients - milk, yogurt etc) so we to sort out the through the junk and repack our suitcases for the trip home tomorrow morning plus give the car back in the clean and tidy condition that we got it in. That silly sister of mine packed her suitcase full of rocks she had collected and I told her that they would weigh to much - did she listen - NO!!!!! That done we talked about our trip while watching the rain then cooked and ate dinner before calling it a night and going to bed.

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Photos

Big Wheeled Bus
on the way to Cardrona.

Big Wheeled Car
on the way to Cardrona.

The Road Downhill
from Summit Pass.

Angie posing
while I eat our icecream :)