Gold of all kinds !
DAY 1 – The Road to Queenstown
We woke to another nice morning, cold but with spectacular views of Mt Cook which continued as we sat for breakfast and had a very expansive and tasty spread – if you don’t count the coffee. The one thing we have found in our NZ travels is that the coffee is universally awful ! For me (I only drink black coffee) it is always so hot and bitter. Even US filter coffee which has been on the stove since early 1962 is more palatable ! The best coffee I have had on this trip is the Nespresso pod in our room this morning !
Anyway, now that’s out of my system, we setoff pack along Lake Pukaki on our way to Queenstown and our next stop in nearby Gibbston. As usual, Adrienne had our itinerary mapped for the day and our first stop was the High Country Salmon farm near Twizel. We mainly stopped here as we thought we may pick up something for our self catering over the next 3 days in Gibbston. As they say, they “raise, harvest and serve” their salmon on site and the main access is through the restaurant.
We decided to “feed the salmon” but at first they didn’t seem too interested so the ducks and seagulls were the main beneficiaries. We then had a look at a few people trying the “catch a salmon” option and this seemed to be fairly successful for the couple we watched. It was not only “catch the salmon” but “club the salmon dead” so it was an all the trimmings experience ! We had a look in the deli but nothing caught our eye so we left and moved on.
We continued our drive and the weather became a bit more cloudy as we approached Lindis Pass. The higher winter scenery is much more brown and unspectacular however the drive was enjoyable. Then, soon after leaving the summit overlook, the weather turned and we could see some pretty spectacularly dark clouds ahead.
Before the rain, we managed a stop at the House of Shrek. Shrek was a huge merino sheep who became famous as it managed to avoid being shorn for about 6 years. Merinos are usually shorn annually but Shrek was able to avoid the shears by hiding in caverns or wherever for 6 years before he was finally caught. Thus he became a celebratory and even got to meet then Prime Minister Helen Clark in 2004 ! Must have been a quiet news year in NZ !
With the rain coming down we decided to skip the Bendigo Historic reserve which was an old gold mining area. Similarly we arrived at Quartz Reef Point after the rain had cleared – another mining relic where larger stones and rocks from the sluicing process were stacked row after row in a herring bone pattern. After parking, we followed the path directions but came across a construction zone so decided we should give up as we had left our hard hats behind !
Although we had driven most of this road when we last visited in 2001, neither of us had any real recollection of the scenery. Thankfully however, after a short period of rain it started to clear up and we soon found ourselves back in quite sunny weather – don’t know where the “apocalypse” clouds went !
With a couple of strikes on the scenic stops, we decided some lunch was in order so we made it to Cromwell and the Bannockburn Wineries area. We stopped at Carrick Wines and with the sun now in full shine, sat with a lovely view down to a lake and shared a pizza with a lovely glass of wine – Adrienne tried a Rose and I had a Riesling. The area is also well set up with bike tracks and many of the wineries are set up with restaurants and cafes just off the bike trails to take in the parched cyclists !
After lunch, we drove back through Cromwell to the “Heritage precinct”. In the 1990’s the Clyde dam was being built and created Dunstan Lake and some of the heritage buildings in Cromwell dating back to the 1860’s gold rush period were due to disappear in the lake. Some enterprising locals dismantled them and moved them to higher ground on the lake shore. They are now a heritage area with a number of artisan businesses taking up residence.
We drove on to our stop for the next 3 nights at Kinross winery with one last stop at the “Roaring Meg” power station in the Kawarau Gorge. There are 2 small power stations fed by the Roaring Meg Dam which was built on the 1930’s and the water discharges into the gorge. We stopped in Arrowtown to pick up some groceries then headed to our accommodation. Although the weather was fine, it was quite cold and windy so we sat inside our cabin looking out over the vineyards and had a couple of drinks before dinner. We had a light dinner of some delicious local produce we had acquired along the way and will continue our exploring tomorrow.
DAY 2 – Dodging the weather
We had quite a downpour of rain in the early morning and found a drizzly morning when we woke. It had however added a dusting of snow to the hillside above us across the vineyards.
Kinross where we are staying provides us a lovely fresh breakfast each morning – today, muffins, toast and local jam, fresh fruit and yoghurt with a granola and nut mix. So after scoffing that lot, we packed up our rain gear and headed out into the drizzle with our first stop nearby Arrowtown. It was cold and windy to go with the drizzle !
In Arrowtown we managed to walk around without too much rain, anything we encountered was mostly very light. The place was pretty busy and all the coffee shops and eateries were doing well from those eager to keep warm and dry. Arrowtown came out of the first discovery of gold in the area in 1862. The gold didn’t last long however, however, like many gold discoveries, the area soon filled with chinese immigrants. Eventhough much of the gold had gone, many decided to stay and a small settlement built up down toward the river. An archeological dig in the 1980’s has partially restored areas of the settlement.
We then wandered down the main street and went to the Lakes District Museum which was very interesting as it is quite extensive and has many displays and exhibits about local maori life and culture and the gold mining past.
After filling the car with petrol, we left Arrowtown for Queenstown. Although we were here a mere 25 years ago, it has obviously changed dramatically and there has been a lot of building and development. After finding a parking station we set off on foot down to the main square. We found a couple of spots which looked familiar however these had pretty much been swallowed up in more recent development. We wandered around for a while in and out of some of the shops and then walked down along the lake for a short distance to where we had stayed all those years ago.
We both felt that Queenstown had become a bit more “Las Vegasy” from our last visit but that’s probably us just getting old 😂 We wandered back to the car and headed back out of town for some lunch at Canyon Brewing on the Shotover River. The Brewery was buzzing and we tucked into a few share plates – soft shell crab sliders, lamb skewers and chips – whilst sampling the beer. Adrienne had a nice apple cider from their range. After our lunch, we ventured out to the lookout over the river as the Shotover Jet boat jetty is nearby and we watched as the boats sped past and the occupants got drenched !
On the way back to our cabin, we stopped in at the original A J Hackett Bungy Jumping spot and watched a few souls propel themselves off the bridge – for them, about 30 seconds of excitement for NZ$320 ! The wind had whipped up and it was getting colder so we didn’t stay long.
Back at our cabin, we had a wine tasting included in our stay at the winery so we braved the cold and walked down to the tasting rooms. We and two NZ couples enjoyed about 6 varieties, mainly pinot noir in this area, and they were all very nice. Kinross themselves only have a small vineyard and they have banded together with 4 other small winemakers to showcase at these tastings. They only supply on site or through a wine club subscription so it is unlikely the wines would be found in any bottleshop – Valli, Hawkshead, High Garden, Wild Irishman and their own.
Kinross also provide meals for their cabins so we bought a lovely homemade chicken, leek, bacon and sweetcorn pie with garlic bread and a garden salad for our dinner – very generous and so we’ll be having the same tomorrow night 😂. So despite the weather, we had a full day of activity and some nice food and drink to go with it !
DAY 3 – Glenorchy and the end of the (Middle) Earth
The weather had come out kind again for us today and despite a little cloud around it was a pretty nice day. Our breakfast hamper this morning included eggs so Adrienne whipped up some scrambled eggs for our toast and we tucked into these and our other bits – fruit, croissants and yoghurt – before setting off for our drive.
Glenorchy is a bit over an hour away along a road which skirts Lake Wakatipu most of the way. Not far out of Queenstown, we stopped at a place called Bob’s Cove and did a walk out to the headland overlooking the cove. It was a pretty popular walk with many groups out for the morning. It is pretty flat along the water and then climbs at the end of the point to provide some stunning views of the cove and back out into the lake. By the time we got back to the little carpark it was overflowing and cars were having to move on without stopping it was so busy.
We made a couple more stops at lookouts along the road before we arrived in Glenorchy. We walked around the Lagoon Scenic Walk for a while and then, feeling a bit peckish, found Mrs Wholly’s General Store which Adrienne had found in her research as being the place for a good pie ! So, Adrienne had a mince and cheese pie and I had a venison pie – very tasty indeed ! And even the coffee wasn’t bad for a change !
Now, if you look at a map you will see that Glenorchy is a bit at the end of the earth – not much beyond it. But of course these sorts of places often end up as film locations. Enter LOTR of course. So we trundled on down the road to find the filming spot for Isengard, the home of the Wizard Saruman and the Orcs ! Happy wife, happy life 😂
We then drove back to Queenstown and stopped in at a Woolworths to pick up some extra groceries on our way back to our cabin. In the late afternoon sunshine we had a game of Petanque amongst the vines before doing some blogging and finishing the day with a couple of drinks overlooking the vineyard before dinner – tasty leftover chicken, leek, bacon and sweetcorn pie of course ! And a smooth Kinross Rose to wash it down.
Our stop in Gibbston has been a great choice for this area and we have had plenty to fill in our time here. Tomorrow we head on to Te Anau.