They are in the process of restoring the few buildings that weren't covered in the risen water level and they've done a terrific job. We visited a bakery and sat on the river's edge for a while before moving onto a Cidery. We were hoping for cider tastings, but a liter of cider for the road worked fine. After Cromwell we began to take on serious elevation. The valleys gave way to canyons with vertical rock cliffs. The river raging past us was called Roaring Meg after one of the old-time barmaids who lived in the area during the gold boom.
The water was unbelievable -- positively glacial and beautiful. The Kawarau Gorge canyon walls had been carved expertly by the rushing water and huge boulders caused the river to churn. We don't need to mention how narrow the "highway" was at this point...driving was always an adventure. The mountains started to come at us more frequently and they were taller. We came into a town called Frankton, which then blended quickly into busy Queenstown. We weren't prepared for how busy and big the town would be. We found a holiday park at the top of the city, which gave us a great view of downtown and the Lake Wakatipu, and explored on foot for the next 2 days. We spent the entire afternoon up on Skyline hill overlooking Queenstown. We took a gondola ride to the top, giving us spectacular views of the entire valley and lake, with The Remarkables as a backdrop.
The Remarkables were covered in the snow we had experienced a couple of nights earlier, and looked amazing with the blue sky above them. The top of Skyline was an activity mecca with 2 Luge tracks (we did both), bungee jumping, hang gliding, a fabulous restaurant with bar none views, and of course, the gondola. We attended a Kiwi Haka that evening, which is a traditional Maori show (where Kathy learned the Poi Dance and we both mixed and mingled with the locals),
and had the buffet at the restaurant. This was a serious buffet with all kinds of seafood and landfood. Yum. We ate and ate and ate while we watched the sunset reflect on The Remarkables. The buffet cost something like $40 each, which turned out to be quite reasonable for the country.
We rose early to take in a 4WD / Jetboat ride on the Upper Shotover River. The Shotover River was shot in a few scenes in the Lord of the Rings. The 4WD ride took us up the valley, past the Coronet Ski Area, and onto Skippers Road. Skippers Road was the only path to the Upper Shotover River in the gold mining days. It was (and still is) a treacherous "road".
It's dirt, impossibly narrow and windy and has quite a steep grade in areas. The view was amazing, including the near vertical drop into the gorge below. Rental cars are not allowed on this road, nor anything that isn't 4WD. Sheep are flown by helicopter into this area for grazing -- not sure why as it's rather parched land. The Shotover River is glacial, so its a beautiful icy blue color. We were outfitted with spray jackets and PFDs and loaded into the Jetboat.
The Jetboat can move through waters that are only 13 inches deep, but need much deeper water to do their famous 360 spins. (see video) We had a great time weaving up river through rapids and between boulders and white water rafters. Part of the thrill was getting frighteningly close to the cliff walls. At one point, we reached a speed of 50mph -- talk about a wind burned face! On our drive back, we stopped at the famous A.J. Hackett bungee jumping bridge (it was #2). A.J. Hackett was the inventor of bungee jumping.
Suspension bridges are the bridge of choice in NZ, we encountered them quite often. We spent an afternoon ambling around Queenstown. It's a cute, touristy downtown bordered by the Botanical Gardens right on the lakeshore.
One of the top tourist activities is taking a cruise on the TSS Earnslaw, a steamboat that was built the same year as the Titanic, but much less unlucky.
We opted not to take a lake cruise, but maybe next time. Every night we watched 30-60min of the LOTR trilogy so that we could spot movie locations as we visited them. Below, you will see the location where Arwen dared the seven wraith kings to cross the river and a wall of water washed them downriver.
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