Arrowtown ; Queenstown ; Glenorchy and the other side of Mount Aspire National Park

(posted from the Cromwell Library, Cromwell, NZ)

(This post covers 1 - 3 March, 2013)


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Sunday, 3 March -

This morning we drove into Queenstown. We wended through the streets which had been so crowded yesterday and very few people were around on this Sunday morning.
We walked for a half hour in the formal garden, enjoying the incredible rose gardens and trees from all over the country (all labeled!)
We then went downtown and walked through The Mall shops and had coffees at Joe’s Garage, where the staff wears tee-shirts with a Red-Cross-like symbol (but brown in color) and the phrase “Coffee Rescue” in an official-looking logo. This was one place that was really jumping this morning.
The crowd was starting to build as the morning wore on so we headed out. Based on a guidebook recommendation we drove part way up the road to The Remarkables ski slope for a high-level view over the lake, the river, town, and the airport. Planes were flying just above us and then descending to the runway down below.
We then drove back through town and out the other side toward Glenorchy. This is a 35k drive along the ultra-blue lake to a small town of only two hundred residents but views of mountains all around.
After a capuccino at the very laid-back Glenorchy Cafe, we drove out toward Paradise, not knowing what might be there. But we could tell from the views of the mountains around it that it would be good!
After 20K the hard road ended and we saw a sign for Mount Aspiring National Park. We were on the other side of the mountain, another river valley over, from the long, dusty road to Mount Aspire and our campsite at Raspberry Creek.
This too was a long dusty road, this road through Paradise and on to Dart River Track and Chinaman’s Bluff, the end of the road.
We walked from the road-end up the track to Chinaman’s Flat and across it to where the track re-entered the woods along the bluff. With our return, that gave us an hour’s walk.
We retreated back the gravel road to Glenorchy, then selected a freedom-camping site along the hard-road back toward Queenstown. After supper a German couple pulled in beside us to share the small site. As I write this from Budley’s front passenger seat, I have a waterfall dead ahead and up about 15 degrees, a glacier to the left and about 35 degrees up, and the incredi-blue Lake Wakatipu behind us. Wow.

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Saturday, 2 March -

This morning we woke at dawn and got underway without breakfast so we could call back to the US in the early afternoon. We drove into town and parked next to the internet cafe we had used yesterday so we could use up the rest of the hour of internet time I had bought yesterday. The ‘hour’ is a total hour of usage time, not an hour of contiguous time, so we can split it up as we wish within a 24-hour period.
We spoke with Mom and Dad via Skype and were surprised how clear the video was. We had a bit of a problem with a few delays in the audio but overall it was fine.... so much better than a phone call.
We then drove south out of Wanaka to Arrowtown. We had read Arrowtown is a little more laid back and is a weekending destination and Queenstown more a party-town. We parked at the edge of town along the Arrow River and Labashi checked out the shops while I walked through the Chinese Settlement area. This is where chinese men who had come to search for gold lived during the gold rush of the mid-1800’s. They built very small, rustic lean-to-like houses along the river (where their diggings were) and formed a small community. Two of them had stores which became popular with the white families. One store is still mostly intact and I was happy to find the door unlocked. It’s just a few rooms with stone walls and stone floor but the interior wooden walls were papered with copies of the local newspaper from as far back as 1853. The latest I saw was printed in 1895.
I called Labashi after an hour and met her at Budley (our campervan) for lunch. We then walked to the town museum which turned out to be very interesting and complete. It of course had displays about the gold-rush days but also did an excellent job of showing the late-1800’s use of hydro-electric power. The water was diverted from far up in the mountains to a precipitous drop where a pipe guided water down into a turbine to turn the generator.
After several hours at the museum we needed a break and walked to the nearby restaurant-row for a glass of wine.
We took a final turn through the street of shops and then headed out of town, toward Queenstown.
The visitor center had told us of a little-known freedom-camping site. This one was at Lake Hayes and on the way to Queenstown so we stopped there briefly to be sure it would be okay for tonight, then went on.
In Queenstown we looked up Off-Road Adventures, which in addition to running four-wheel drive and quadbike tours also rents a few motorcycles. I talked to the guy about renting a Suzuki V-Strom 1000 adventure touring bike but I was put off by the limited daily miles (120) and the fact that the bikes were very dirty, i.e., the fronts were covered with bug-remains from previous rentals. For $200 a day, they should at least be cleaned up. The other issue is what Labashi would do while I zipped around on a motorcycle (since she didn’t want to go along). In the end I decided I’d be better off to spend the money on a rental back home.
We took a brief walk downtown and enjoyed one of the art galleries but then decided to go on to the campground.
After supper I walked from the head of the lake to the far end and back as the sun set, a walk of two and a half hours while Labashi worked on her laptop.

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Friday, 1 March -

Last evening the wind coming down off the high mountains had been rocking the van quite a bit. We thought we might have to move in order to sleep later on but as darkness came on the wind dropped to a light air, as we had seen before around the high peaks. The day’s sun had warmed our little home quite nicely and we were comfortable without covers until well after midnight.
This morning the sun illuminated the Mount Aspire ‘Bonar’ glacier and made a glorious sight. I jumped out with the camera and took a few still shots, then started a video clip only to have the camera shut off. The battery was dead. I put in the alternate battery, trying to remember if I had charged it and soon found I hadn’t. Beautiful scene, two dead batteries!
This is one of the challenges of van travel. We have to keep our two laptops, the iPad, and two cell phones charged as well as the biggest draw of them all-- our fridge. We also have two GPSs to power while driving and a pair of camera batteries to keep up. We don’t go to the expensive campgrounds with power outlets unless there’s no alternative so it’s all done with the van’s charging system. This time I brought along the 12 - 120 volt power inverter from Mocha Joe and that gives me more options.
During our Africa trip I bought a three-headed socket splitter and each morning I determine what combination of devices will get charged today and in what order.
This morning we drove back the corrugated road and the hard road back to Wanaka. We first went to the Caltex station / laudromat for a shower. As we hoped, the showers here were merely a larger bathroom with a shower and a coin box rather than men and women’s locker rooms fronted by a service desk like the community swimming pools. That meant we could share a shower and only pay half the cost we’d otherwise have to pay. And we could have fun doing it! The shower was 5 minutes long for $5. We’ve shared three-minute ones so this one was luxuriously long and, thankfully, had full hot/cold controls. Nice!
After the shower we took care of the regular dump station and trash duties, then went to the library for wi-fi. This one is one of the few town libraries which didn’t have wi-fi so we walked downtown to an internet cafe and paid $6 for an hour of internet time.
One of the things we were working on with our internet time was attempting to find a podiatrist for Labashi. It turns out there’s one in Wanaka so we drove to the office to see if it might be possible to get an appointment. The doctor was out today, though, and we’d not be able to get an appointment until Wednesday. But the very nice receptionist volunteered to look for another in Queenstown or Invercargill and not only found one but called for us and made an appointment for next Tuesday in Queenstown.
After, we drove to Iron Mountain for a short walk with a view over Wanaka. We walked for a half hour and that put us high enough up the hill for a good view but we didn’t risk making Labashi’s foot any worse by going further.
We moved to a parking spot in the shade at the end of Lake Wanaka and within easy walking distance (a block, maybe) into town. We walked the streets checking out the stores and restaurant menus. Once we saw Red Star Gourmet Burgers, we suddenly developed a hunger for a bleu-cheese gourmet burger and loved it. Yes, it was a $14 burger but we split it and it was very, very good.
Walking back to the car suddenly seemed like a strain but we broke it up with a quick stop at the gelato shop.
We watched guys playing cricket in the park along the way back to the van and then headed for our camp for the night at Diamond Pond, a freebie about 10 minutes out of town in the Freedom Camping Zone.
The towns here often have a restricted zone within the town limits where freedom camping is not permitted. But once outside the town limits, we often see signs telling us the restricted zone has ended. That does not give us permission to camp on private land but now any public lands which want to prohibit freedom camping must post a sign.
Many post a sign showing a campervan with the words ‘Freedom Camping Permitted for Self-Contained Campervans’ sometimes followed by overnight hours (like ‘7 pm to 9 am’).
For some reason the burger and gelato in Wanaka gave me an energy boost so I spent the sunset-time walking up the switch-backed hill to see Diamond Pond and took photos as I circled it and then returned in about an hour’s walk.
We spent the rest of the evening on the laptops.

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