Queenstown South Island NZ

January 17.18, 2009

Queenstown is one of the premier resort towns of New Zealand. Oddly enough, it is not on a coastal beach but on a big inland lake. The setting is similar to Salmon Arm BC, for those of you who have been there, but the mountains are bigger.

There are, of course, lots of houses and small developments that have sprung up around it but they are still small scale by NA standards. Still freeloading at the Glass’s for a couple of days we drove into the Queenstown, parked the car and then climbed the nice trail to Queenstown hill. The vertical lift was about 500 metres (1500 feet) to the top from where we started and the trail, while wide and well packed, is really up all the way. The day stayed cool, with just a little rain, while we huffed and puffed our way to the top.

(On trails like these I always want to kill the people you pass coming down. They are always laughing and joking and having a good time while you feel like the guy at the beginning of the anti-perspirant ad.)

The view from the top was worth it. In the year 2000 they placed a sculpture at the time to symbol eternity or inner/outer strength or personal achievement or something. I found that it made a great spot to hang my shirt to dry.

Back to the Glass’s that night and then out to dinner at an Indian restaurant in nearby Arrowtown. Arrowtown was once a golding mine hotspot and the main street is still preserved and picturesque. The food was great and the entertainment was Brett and I wrestling at the till for the bill. His arms were longer and he won. Thanks Brett.

Next day was Barbara’s birthday so we did a two hour walk around nearby Lake Hayes and then off to a nearby café for lunch. Back to the house for gin and tonics and the end of a nice day.

Have to tell you that these are interesting people. Brett is an aircraft engineer, who used to work for Air New Zealand, and who now flies tourists into the Milford Sound area. Barbara, who is from England originally, used to be a nurse to the bush stations around Alice Springs in Australia. They had done a lot of their own design work on the house and the results were great. There was even a line of motion sensitive lights along all the hallways that lit up when you were looking for the washroom at night. You have to like that in a strange house.

We were told that the actor, Sam Neil (Jurassic Park), lives right down the road. Must be a nice neighbourhood.

By the way, in case you are wondering, Lana and I skipped the Fiordland area including Milford Sound. I had already done one of the treks (the Routeburn track) and we had both seen the area the last time we were here. Since it is on a road that just goes in and then just comes out we decided for the sake of time to skip it. We didn’t think the that fiords had changed much since the last time.