Queenstown

On the morning of January 14th, we packed our gear into our car and set out on the drive to Queenstown. It was a surprisingly short drive of only a few hours and we arrived in the mid afternoon. Fortunately, the Butterfli Lodge, the very nice hostel where we were staying could take us when we arrived and so we could stow away our bags and walk into the city center.

Queenstown was once a small town on the side of Lake Wakatipu with views of the mountain range, The Remarkables, but those days are now gone. The population and the popularity of Queenstown has exploded over the past two decades and the town has become the self-proclaimed adventure capital of New Zealand. As we drove into town we saw large areas of land that had been cleared for the construction of yet another large housing development. Throughout the city center cranes and construction work were evident and there were signs here and there proclaiming that another block of old houses was being torn down to make way for a new condominium complex. The owner of our hostel spoke of how housing was once affordable in the town, but now the prices have skyrocketed, especially due to the strength of the Pound versus the New Zealand dollar.

In Queenstown, you can find just about every adrenaline pumping activity that you can think of. There is bungee jumping, of course, skydiving, jet boating, mountain biking, rafting, etc all of which are aggressively marketed in the city center. There are also lots of tramps in the area including one where you can tramp from Queenstown to the road leading to Milford Sound. For those less enthusiastic about adventure sports, there are cruises on the deep water lake in a lake steamer and lots of wineries in the area.

We wandered into town and walked past (or in) all of the stores offering adventure activities, adventure gear and souvenirs. The downtown is nice with a waterfront dock and park, and lots to see and to do. After checking out a place offering views of Kiwi birds (for only $30) we decided instead to walk up a nearby hill. We could have taken a gondola up the hill, but walking seemed a better option. Unfortunately, the track we were on wandered back and forth across the hill and so the short tramp turned out to be much longer than expected. At the top, we could get great views of the area as well as of the alpine cars and bungee jumps, all operating at the top of the hill. Also on the top of the hill was the start to an insane looking mountain bike track. I like mountain biking, but I like single tracks that wander through forests that require hopping fallen trees, fording rivers and scenery. I will admit that the tracks that I have seen so far in New Zealand that go straight downhill through insane obstacles are a bit too much for my skills.

We had scheduled only one day in Queenstown and the next day we set out to drive to the West Coast. Our drive took us out of developments of Queenstown and to the scenic Crown Range Road that rapidly climbed a nearby mountain in a series of never-ending switchbacks with sweeping views at every turn. After the climb up to a height of 1120m, the road flattened out and offered a nice drive through the Cardona Valley. Rumors of the discover of gold in the area in 1862 sparked a frenzy of activity by European prospectors. But by 1870, most of the gold diggers had moved on to fields on the West Coast and the towns were abandoned. We passed by the forgotten towns as we drove and went on to the town of Wanaka, 55km northeast of Queenstown.

I had not heard of Wanaka before our arrival at the little town on the side of Lake Wanaka and surrounded by the jagged peaks of the Alps, but I have heard its name spoken quite often since we were there. Wanaka offers the same adventure activities as its brasher sibling to the south, but in a more subdued manner. It appears that developers knew that they were onto something with Wanka and the downtown is more uniform and cute than Queenstown’s haphazardness caused by the rapid demolition and building. The town is home to an annual air show of called Warbirds over Wanaka (we saw a documentary of the show on our flight from Honolulu to Auckland) as well as Puzzling World which offers the chance to get lost in The Great Maze and all sorts of puzzles and attractions such as a reconstructed Roman bathroom. We picnicked at a large park on the side of Lake Wanaka and after snapping a few photos, drove through the town and then onward. I think that the next time that I am in this neck of the woods, I will plan on staying in Wanaka rather than Queenstown to check out Wanaka a bit more.

Our drive took us past the milky, azure waters of Lake Hawea and further into the mountains and past Mt Aspiring (3030m) and the Mt Aspiring National Park with its many tramps. Our goal was to drive the 150km through the Haast Pass which would take us from the rolling grasslands of Central Otago, through the mountains and to the rain-soaked forests of the West Coast. The road that we were driving on was only opened in 1960 and it wasn’t until 1965 that it was continued up to the town of Fox Glacier. However, it wasn’t until 1995 that the dirt road was sealed. At only 563m, it is the lowest of the passes over the Alps. The road offers great views and there are well marked stops to see waterfalls. However, the sand flies were out in force in this part of the mountains and after one stop, we spent upwards to 20 minutes trying to swat all of the flies that had gotten into our car and continued to bite us as we drove.

The pass through the mountain ends at the town of Haast on the West Coast where we filled up the car with some pricey petrol. From Haast, we crossed over the Haast River a very long, single lane bridge with two passing point in the middle. At each passing point, signs indicated which direction of traffic had the right of way and if cars were coming from the direction with the right of way, you were to wait in the passing point until it was clear to continue.

The West Coast is said to have a different feel from the rest of the South Island. Geographically, the West Coast is isolated from the rest of the island by the Alps resulting in a narrow, rugged costal strip that is about 30km wide. Clouds which have passed over the Tasman Sea accumulating water drop their rain in ample quantities before passing over the Alps. The annual rainfall on the West Coast was 3m (about 10 feet!) and with 171 days of rain in 2006, the torrential rainfall can fall for days at a time. It must take a certain mentality to live in a place with so many days of rain. So much rain results in vegetation that would not be out of place in a tropical rainforest. The highway that runs along the coast passes by lush bushland and surf crashing on jagged beaches. Isolated shacks can be seen on the coast, interspersed between the towns. A gold rush in the 1800’s brought boom times to the West Coast towns such as Greymouth. As the gold ran out, coal took its place as the foundation for more permanent towns, but the digging of coal too has slowed. Timber harvesting is a lucrative industry, but conversationalist and the tourism industry have clashed with loggers resulting in the West Coast Accord of 1986 which limited logging.

Our drive took us north along the coast through the woods and past the town of Fox Glacier and to the town of Franz Josef Glacier which we would use as our base for exploring both of the glaciers.