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Published: January 21st 2007
After our trip to Milford Sound on the 16th we headed back to Te Anau and had a quality Chinese takeaway - we were more than ready for some good food after our adventures.
We headed back up to Queenstown on the 17th, stopping at a few incredible vista's en route.
The Southern Alps form a formidable backdrop to the river valleys and plains on the South Island. I know we have said it before, but you cannot put into words or take photo's which clearly illustrate how massive so much of the landscape of this place is.
We had a lazy afternoon in Queenstown - and managed to avoid spending a fortune today on one of the myriad of adrenalin activities that abound, so we sought out a good meal for Dinner. Greg had recommended to us an Irish bar on the lake front, and after a bit of searching we found it.
It's unique feature is that they kind of don't cook you your meal. Instead it turns up raw. Kinda Irish Sushi I guess! I had a steak, and Clare a large lump of chicken breast. A large slab of granite appears that has
been heated to 400 degrees c all week, and you simply cut up your meat, vegetables and colcannon mash and heat it all to your liking in front of you. It was really good fun - and meant I sampled the whole steak through varying degree's of cooking - from near blue to murdered! Clare waited for the last cluck before tucking in to hers. The Guinness wasn't too bad either.
On Thursday 18th we spent the whole day out on the Shotover River. We had booked ourselves on the Queenstown Rafting full day session - the Shotover has 6 - 10 Grade 4 - 5 rapids, and we had a great time spending over 2 hours coming down from the Skippers Canyon to Arthurs Pass.
The road down to the rafting start point was probably more hairy than the rafting itself! The Skippers Canyon Road is one of only 2 roads in NZ that is strictly off limits to rental drivers, and the rough guide suggests you would have to be mental to drive down it regardless. It is basically a mountain pass traversing a valley probably over a thousand metres high! There are endless switchbacks and
hairpins down into the valley. No wonder most people opt to helicopter down to the rafting site!
The Rafting was great, and the final bit of the journey took us through a narrow 170 metre tunnel and out down a short waterfall/grade 4+ rapid.
On the night of the 18th we drove to Wanaka - through a really steep mountain pass which is usually closed during the winter. It was the most direct route on the map - not our fault!
We found a Department of Conservation Campsite - and tried to park up without paying! Unfortunately we were rudely woken by the ranger at 7 the next morning and had to pay up!
We spent the day in Wanaka, which is kinda Queenstown's smaller sibling and is a bit less full on. It was a hot day, so we chilled out by the lake and then wandered round to Stuart Landsborough's Puzzling World. Puzzling World is basically an attraction dedicated to messing with your mind, and we had a much better couple of hours than we had expected, it was really cool. There is a massive maze with 4 coloured towers that you must reach
through gangways, overhead walkways and the main maze. We had a race to accomplish the feat and I'm sure you'll be able to tell from the photo who won.
There were loads of optical illusions, mind games and puzzles, as you might expect from the title of the place. Clare decided it would be the perfect vacation for her Dad.
We spent the evening driving to Haast - a "town" isolated on the west coast. The "town" must have had at least 4 houses.
It then started to rain. And rain. And rain. It is the 22nd today and it is still raining!
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Rebecca & Liam
non-member comment
A-mazing
All looks really good. I'm sorry but I think I would have been too tempted with the forbidden road. The food looks good and so well presented. Wanaka seems like a crazy little place. Stay safe