20th - 25th Feb - Queenstown, Glenorchy and the Routeburn Track
Passing through Wanaka we booked up long awaited Christmas present from the Bev folks - a jet boat ride up and canoe back down the Dart River at the end of lake Wakatipu (the longest river in NZ - yet another bloody superlative!). Before levaing Wanaka we treated ouselves to a pie on the lakeside - as if to be punished for this diversion from our health concious diets I returned from the loo to be stung in the folds of my belly by an angry wasp! - better he got me then than 5 minutes earlier in the gents!
It was with some intrepidation that we rolled into Queenstown - a number of Kiwis had warned us that the once beautiful alpine town had been ruined over the last few years by mass tourism and ill spent money from Christchurch yuppies. We were pleasantly surpised and happily whiled away a few hours strolling the streets and stocking up on some extra camping gear for the upcoming Routeburn track tramp.
About 45minutes up the lake from Queenstown is Glenorchy - a sleepy village/hamlet where we experienced the biggest pizzas known to man or beast! We watched the sun set over the mountains reflected in the lake and would probably still have been there to see it rise if we had tried to finish the pizzas.
The Jet boat ride from Glenorchy up the Dart, past Paradise (that is the real name of a place here!) and much of Middle Earth was superb. We were lucky to have a mad driver called Toni who seemed to have a magnetic attraction to any obstacle on the river including large rocks and trees! Polly had faith in her as she was a woman driver. I want a jet boat. The journey back down the river in inflatable canoes was stunning - made more pleasurable by the fact that the current did all the work and I just steered!
After chilling out around Glenorchy for a day or so we committed ourselves to the three day Routeburn track (supposedly the second best tramp in NZ to Milford Sound - more superlatives). We questioned our wisdom on this one as we stumbled through the darkness in Queenstown, laden with packs, to catch the bus at 6:50am! Strangely, we were the only two people on the bus - luckily there was a third person to drive. This was pretty cool as we got a personal commentary all the way on local history etc - I say 'we', I mean 'I' as Polly slept and dribbled for the 3 hour journey!
The tramp itself was fantastic. The weather wasn't in our favour for the first day but with hoods up we trekked through dripping rainforest and passed cascading waterfalls. Our bush camping was now down to a T after our Abel Tasman adventure and coming to terms with the pesky sandflies which had managed to find cracks and crannys (and fannys for that matter) we never knew we had! Polly seemed to be far more attractive to these little beasts than I did - although in retrospect I think was due to my protective covering of anti sandfly hair. I knew it was there for something.
We were in bed and asleep before it got dark and didn't get back on the track the next day till about 11!! We had slept the clock round and the weather still hadn't improved. By lunchtime, however, the clouds parted as we crossed onto the other side of the ridge and saw the Routeburn river winding down the valley. Finally we saw the views that everybody had raved about - well worth it.
On the final day we were up at 6, head torches on packing up our gear and heading for the end of the track to catch the 10am bus we had ambitously booked ourselves onto! - all so we could get to Dunedin to meet Beth and Stew for the first game of the Rugby Super 12's...and a beer or billion.
It was with some intrepidation that we rolled into Queenstown - a number of Kiwis had warned us that the once beautiful alpine town had been ruined over the last few years by mass tourism and ill spent money from Christchurch yuppies. We were pleasantly surpised and happily whiled away a few hours strolling the streets and stocking up on some extra camping gear for the upcoming Routeburn track tramp.
About 45minutes up the lake from Queenstown is Glenorchy - a sleepy village/hamlet where we experienced the biggest pizzas known to man or beast! We watched the sun set over the mountains reflected in the lake and would probably still have been there to see it rise if we had tried to finish the pizzas.
The Jet boat ride from Glenorchy up the Dart, past Paradise (that is the real name of a place here!) and much of Middle Earth was superb. We were lucky to have a mad driver called Toni who seemed to have a magnetic attraction to any obstacle on the river including large rocks and trees! Polly had faith in her as she was a woman driver. I want a jet boat. The journey back down the river in inflatable canoes was stunning - made more pleasurable by the fact that the current did all the work and I just steered!
After chilling out around Glenorchy for a day or so we committed ourselves to the three day Routeburn track (supposedly the second best tramp in NZ to Milford Sound - more superlatives). We questioned our wisdom on this one as we stumbled through the darkness in Queenstown, laden with packs, to catch the bus at 6:50am! Strangely, we were the only two people on the bus - luckily there was a third person to drive. This was pretty cool as we got a personal commentary all the way on local history etc - I say 'we', I mean 'I' as Polly slept and dribbled for the 3 hour journey!
The tramp itself was fantastic. The weather wasn't in our favour for the first day but with hoods up we trekked through dripping rainforest and passed cascading waterfalls. Our bush camping was now down to a T after our Abel Tasman adventure and coming to terms with the pesky sandflies which had managed to find cracks and crannys (and fannys for that matter) we never knew we had! Polly seemed to be far more attractive to these little beasts than I did - although in retrospect I think was due to my protective covering of anti sandfly hair. I knew it was there for something.
We were in bed and asleep before it got dark and didn't get back on the track the next day till about 11!! We had slept the clock round and the weather still hadn't improved. By lunchtime, however, the clouds parted as we crossed onto the other side of the ridge and saw the Routeburn river winding down the valley. Finally we saw the views that everybody had raved about - well worth it.
On the final day we were up at 6, head torches on packing up our gear and heading for the end of the track to catch the 10am bus we had ambitously booked ourselves onto! - all so we could get to Dunedin to meet Beth and Stew for the first game of the Rugby Super 12's...and a beer or billion.
posted by Polly and James at Wednesday, March 09, 2005
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