Monday 15th January
Back on the road again today and it was surprisingly cool as I emerged from the motel room to load the car up, The dash display confirmed as much indicating only 11 degrees, the coldest it’s been so far. However it was still a damn sight better than at home so neither of us were moaning!
Supplies had dwindled so on the way out of Queenstown we called at the Pak n Save supermarket to get stocked up, procuring enough food for about 4 days. While we have plenty of room in the car the freezer bag is only so big so the amount of fresh food we can carry is limited. The Elantra was fuelled up too, for the first time since Invercargill and then we were back on the road heading north.
The first place of interest on route was Arrowtown, the coffee shop, Arrowtown Bakery & Café, got good reviews online and in print too so that sealed the deal. Two lovely coffees and a custard croissant – sitting outside under a lovely big umbrella in the sunshine was too good to miss.
Quaint, sedate Arrowtown is only 20 minutes from Queenstown but a world away. Grown on the back of the gold rush in the 1860’s, it became a bit of a backwater when the gold ran out. However it became popular as a tourist destination in the 1950’s and that continued, thanks to its old world charm. A lot of the original buildings remain and exudes a relaxed vibe and peaceful ambience. There are places to stay and if I were returning to the area I’d choose this over Queenstown – a sure sign I’m getting older but so what. The coffee was good too – and excellent value – 2 coffees and a cake for under 7 quid.
There were 2 options road wise for our journey north, however we wanted to stop by Lake Wanaka and the shortest was a road whose turning appeared soon after we left Arrowtown. The turning gave a taste of what was to come, it being a sharp hairpin off to the left, rapidly climbing. The transmission was knocked over into manual shift and off – and up – we went. This was fun.
Sandra:
Richard is certainly getting his rally driving fixes on this trip! That is not to say that I have not done some myself – good fun it is too! Sitting in car is relatively comfortable thankfully.
After a number of tight, steep hairpin bends where I was just able to avoid dropping into 1st, the first lookout point came into view. We were close to the summit of Crown Range Road – named after the mountains to the west – and being nearly 1,121 metres up the lookout point gave us fabulous views of the Arrow valley with the elbow of Lake Wakatipu and Queenstown just visible in the distance and The Remarkables mountain range away to the left, which we had driven alongside on the way up to Queenstown. Stunning.
Looking through my old photos it appears Trev and I drove this too, back in 1997:
There was more to come though, a little bit further on was another lookout point, this time facing north with views of the road descending into the Cardrona valley. In a short distance the landscape was already looking drier:
Down in the base of the valley between the Crown and Criffel ranges we came across the tiny settlement of Cardrona, another place that developed during the gold rush. Nowadays it’s busier in the winter with skiers – it seemed odd seeing signs for ski fields when everywhere looked so dry – but there are plenty of activities to lighten your wallet in the warmer months as well, horse-riding and quad biking being just a couple but there is also a distillery and the pub – dating from 1863 - is still very much open for business with food and rooms available alongside grog. It is said to be the most photographed pub in New Zealand too.
It is also home to one of New Zealand’s rarer birds – we would call it a Sparrowhawk. A conservation programme, like, for example, the very successful Red Kite programme in mid Wales in the 1970’s has had similar success over here. A beautiful and evocative sculpture is in the car park of the old hotel along with a stand giving its history. We have seen a good many of them, particularly in the more remote parts of the South Island – they are big birds and the cleanliness and therefore the colour of their wing feathers are a sight to behold.
Half an hour further north was Lake Wanaka and first on the agenda was lunch – bacon baps prepped before we left Queenstown. Very nice too and plenty of parking – free as it has been the vast majority of the time – right by the lake.
Sandra:
We were also running very low on mobile phone data – as you know we had purchased a SIM card when we first arrived in Auckland, (fun & games that was, not)! Anyway, we had done some research and lo and behold there was a One NZ shop in Wanaka – result! Equally, the staff in there could not have been more helpful, even saving Richard having to rummage for something to remove the SIM! They changed it for us. Navigation was safely restored – it has been an absolute boon, more a case of timings between stops and alternative routes. We have maps and guidebooks too as back up so we are pretty well covered.
I’d been getting text messages daily for the last week warning me that I needed to renew my plan, however, given what the guy had told me in the OneNZ shop near Auckland - about the card being ‘expired’ - we decided to ditch it and just get a new one. It’s not as though we needed the phone number. As Sandra said, great service, however the assistant was very easy on the eye too – always a bonus!
Sandra:
We then set off again knowing that the Lindis Pass was the next agenda. Richard would drive up the pass, where there was a photographic lookout and then I would finish the final descent of the pass, across the McKenzie plain – it is very remote and the roads are straight for miles at a time. Interestingly this road, the SH8 has been one of the busiest roads we have been on, it’s a direct link between Queenstown and Christchurch so this does explain it. We pulled up at the lookout point and were treated to some more amazing views.
Photos taken, we swapped drivers and off we set again about 1.5 hours or so to go. Once down the pass and onto the plain, cruise control was set and I managed to get the fuel rate down to 6.5 – there was definitely some bragging going on!! To be fair though, set it at is maximum rate for fuel efficiency, cruise control on and steer a straight line and do this for 40km plus, you will get the number down. Still it was a much better figure than Richard’s driving earlier in the day!!
Yeah yeah, I’m naming her Downhill Lil from now on! Seriously, it’s interesting watching the average fuel consumption rise and fall – here it’s expressed in litres per 100 kilometres. Our best for a trip, if memory serves, has been 5.7 – which works out at about 49mpg. I might be behind the times having not owned a petrol car for over 10 years, but for a 2 litre auto, laden with luggage and 2 bods, I find that pretty good.
We turned left at Omarama and we were now heading north again. There are a number of lakes here and just down the road in the opposite direction Trev and I stopped for a tour of one of the hydroelectric power stations in the area. They have this wonderful turquoise hue thanks to the sun reflecting off the minerals suspended in the water.
We passed the town of Twizel which only came about in 1968 to service the construction of a nearby hydroelectric power station and was due to be abandoned in 1984 once the project was complete. However its occupants quite liked the laid back mountain country lifestyle and decided to stay.
Just up the road was another treat – well signposted and a huge car park suggested it was a popular one and it was easy to see why. The view of Lake Pukaki with the magnificent Mount Cook behind is iconic – and breath-taking. There’s no more to be said other that I did it best to do it justice with the camera:
We passed salmon farms on the way and the little kiosk on the lakeside was doing a good trade in various cuts, from fillets to whole sides. We however opted for a cuppa. They were selling caviar too and I was reminded of one of the meals I had on the flight over from Dubai – salmon with a caviar dressing. Not my usual thing but tasty.
Sandra:
We finally arrived at Lake Tekapo, a delightful township on the side of the lake. The lake is the most gorgeous blue colour in the sunlight and is part of the McKenzie River and Hydro scheme in the area. A couple of photos and we pressed on, noting that tomorrow would be a great day too to do two more activities. We climbed through the Burkes Pass and into a very small, but historically significant, township called … Burkes Pass Motel. A great little find, great hosts and a very comfortable room indeed. A home cooked meal of pork and apple sausages, baked beans and potatoes, followed by Chocolate Sponge and Cream plus another episode of the TV thriller Vigil and a good run on the nightly crossword saw us falling to sleep pretty quickly. Thoughts of the day to come were never far away too.
Todays journey:
Tuesday 16th January
A chilly night, in fact we put the heating on for a little bit first thing – the aircon unit acting as a heat pump. Outside the clouds hung very low and it was a bit misty but there was already signs of the sun breaking through. We spotted the owner and asked about washing – there was no guest laundry, however they were more than happy to do a load for us. Very helpful as we’d planned to do it in Queenstown but didn’t get around to it. I.E, CBA!
After a cuppa, shower then brekky it was looking much brighter out, though the gauge on the Elantra reported it was just 12 degrees – clearing skies and bright sunshine though. We headed back along the road for the twenty minute run to Lake Tekapo, taking the road as far as we could that run up the eastern side of the lake first.
Then it was to the centre, to see the historic Church of the Good Shepherd which commands fabulous views across the lake. Sadly, it was locked up but what a cracking spot.
Nearby was the bronze statue of a sheepdog honouring the part so many sheepdogs have played for farmers in the area over the years. Made by a local sculptoress but actually cast in London.
Sandra:
I had read about this statue but had originally got it confused with the one in Queenstown. This statue had less movement about it but the view from the plinth must have been amazing.
Yep, Trev and I were here in 1999, with his lordship…..
To the left of the lake is Mount John, home to the Observatory of the same name. Tekapo is one of the world’s 5 official Dark Sky reserves thanks to minimal light pollution and stargazing tours and trips to the observatory are available. However you can also drive up during the day. You had to pay NZ$8 to enter but from what we read it would be worth it for the views alone. When we rocked up we were informed the car park was full and there would be a short wait but several cars soon appeared, the credit card was swiped and off we went.
Sandra:
The observatory was a definite on the list, as Richard said views are amazing. It was a little disappointing that you could not visit any of the telescopes – apart from the café everything was shut. Yes, of course, nighttime is when they come to life but the cost of the dark night sky tour was excessive so we gave that a miss. I did, however, manage to get a book about the observatory down in the village at the Dark Skies exhibition and souvenir shop.
Again, more tight hairpin bends and the road was not particularly wide, so the pace was steady. There was dedicated blue badge parking at the top right by the café, which must surely qualify as having some of the best views in the world. Wow:
Back in Tekapo we had our usual packed lunch overlooking the lake then a meander around a couple of shops where Sandra bought some gifts.
We returned to the motel mid-afternoon and had a look across the road at what initially looked like a pile of junk – sorry, collectables. It was in fact a collection of memorabilia, giftware and wooden furniture recreated shops from the past. An interesting set up that had attracted the attention of a few passing through:
Sandra:
An eclectic mix and a half – whomever owned the shop was certainly a massive fan of all things American in the automotive sense. The garden furniture was very heavy duty but well made. In a way it is another little automotive museum but items are for sale – we gave buying anything a pass.
On returning to our unit, we were presented with our laundry, all washed and dried for just NZ$5. Very kind of them. The lady stayed and chatted and talked about their plans for the motel and showed us around.
She told us about a short heritage trail around the village and I set off with my camera, first up being the pretty little church which has the claim to fame of being the oldest Union church in New Zealand.
I didn’t get very much further with the trail. The next stop was the Rabbit Board Manager’s House – yep you read it right. Rabbits were introduced in the 1800’s and very quickly became a pest, control was time consuming, labour intensive and often futile. Anyway, there was an older fella there having a look and we got chatting. Turned out he was born in Burkes Pass 79 years ago and was passing through with his wife on the way south. As if that wasn’t enough he was also a caravanner, owning a 2002 Bailey. New Zealand had the same explosion in caravanning as the UK did after Covid and he talked about the need for Self-Containment certificates if you are staying on no facility sites – ones without black or grey waste disposal. It was fascinating hearing about how things were done here and I suspect if we’d been in a pub it might have been a long night! He was content to chat but ‘the missus’ had emerged from her loo break and it was time to get going. These Kiwi’s do love a chin wag.
Back in the unit maps were laid out as we looked ahead to the rest of our trip. A key point was our ferry crossing back to the North Island and after considering our next few stops we brought it forward a day.
Time had run away and it didn’t take much deliberating on whether to go out for a meal. Sandra Googled and found a pub just 10 minutes up the road.
The Silverstream turned out to be a great find – a few locals in and some tourists from the motel next door made for a pleasant atmosphere and the food was good too.
We returned to unit for an hour of telly, half an hour on the current crossword then sleep came quickly.