We took the Crown Range road because of an error on our 'Wises Touring Map'. (More about this road later.) Passed Mt Cardrona and through the nearby town which is another ski centre in winter. The views from the top of the pass were breathtaking, but we would have felt safer with a 4WD equipped with parachute.
Arrowtown
As we reached real ground level after the Crown Range pass, a large road sign gave us a choice: Arrowtown this way, Queenstown that way. We chose to spend the rest of the afternoon in Arrowtown. The centre of this little place is a restored gold miners' town. Alluvial gold was discovered here in 1862. It became so well known at the time that it attracted thousands of miners (Panners). The Shotover river became 'the richest river in the world'. The NZers now call this town a tourist trap, but without the tourists the place would die. (The gold has long gone.) We found one antique shop. Bought on old 'Addiator' mechanical calculator.
The small museum is superb; mainly relics of the gold mining past, with some very good displays. Many of the miners' cottages have been restored and the old Chinatown area is being restored now. A red London bus ferries tourists around to the local sights. If we had had time, we could have walked to Macetown, now a ghost town with a similar golden history.
Queenstown (About 15km from Arrowtown)
We were warned by NZers that Queenstown is not typical New Zealand. i.e. just as Disneyland is not LA. There is much in common with Disneyland - but more of a Wild West Adventureland where all of the attractions are natural and most of the thrillseeker rides and trips are based around these.
In spite of the 'warnings', Queenstown was planned to be one of the highlights of our trip. To enjoy it even more we also planned to stay for about 3 days at a more upmarket motel or hotel. So we drove around looking at the many hotels on offer. The first decent looking place was the Park Royal. We made enquiries about a Room With a View and made the tactical mistake of indicating that we wanted to stay 3 days. The place looked to be about $150/night. By the time we had soaked up the decor and facilities on offer, we were committed. Then came the crunch: it was nearly $300 per night. Neither of us wanted to be the first to publicly admit that it was too damn expensive, so the hotel won. Sure the room was fabulous, along with the view, and the 5 little bottles of goo in the bathroom were a cut above the average tourist hotel. The view included the backpackers' hotel across the road at just $15/night. The Park Royal was all a big mistake!
Queenstown Activities: (You'd need two weeks to try them all.) A summary of things on offer all year round: Aircraft simulator, Kiwi & Bird park, Bungy jumping (2), Cable car, Canoing, Chairlifts, Cycling, 4WD gorge trips, Fishing, Flightseeing (Helicopters and light planes), Golf, Hang Gliders, Horse-riding, Hovercraft and Hydrofoil trips, Jetboats (many), Jetbikes, Mountain climbing, Mountain bikes, Parasailing, Parachuting, Rapelling, Sailing, Sheep station tour, Sightseeing bus and 4WD tours, Steamship cruises, Trekking, Vintage railway (nearby 'Kingston Flyer'), Vintage car museum, Vineyard tour, White-water rafting.
All of these can be do-it-yourself (incl jetboats and helicopters), excepting the steamship and train. (With enough $ you could probably also charter these for private trips.) In winter (Aug-Nov) add everything that you can do on snow.
From this choice we tried:
Jetboat:
These things hold about 12 passengers decked out with life jackets. (We recommend warm waterproof jackets as well, as everyone gets soaked. Lake water temp is 10degC/50F). They can travel at about 70Km/hour in water only a few inches deep, and can spin in circles at this speed on smooth water. There were many trip variations of duration and location. The most popular was the 25min trip up and down the Shotover River gorges. ($55). The longest was the 5 hour Dart River trip ($99). We chose the 1 hour Kawarau River trip which was better value at $38.
Steamship cruise on Lake Wakatipu:($37 ea - 3 hours) The TSS Earnslaw was built in NZ and launched on the same day in 1912 as the Titanic. (Due to lack of icebergs on the lake, the Earnslaw survives today as the only coal fired steamship still operating as a passenger ferry). Steam engine buffs will like this. The three triple-expansion engines can be viewed closeup by the passengers. Burns about 1 tonne of coal per hour. Used to be licenced to carry 1000 passengers in those Titanic days when safety was not a big issue. (About 400 now)
This cruise also included a visit to the Walter Peak sheep station. An enjoyable tour of the farm and homestead with demos of sheep dogs and shearing. The Japanese tourists must have flown all the way to Queenstown as they were busily photographing each sheep as if they hadn't seen sheep before.
Skyline Gondola and Restaurant: ($40 pp) The new cable car system (Gondolas) is completely automatic and climbs steeply up about 440m (1500') to the Skyline viewing platform and restaurant. The $40 includes a generous smorgasbord and a fantastic view across the lake to a number of mountain ranges. (If you book ahead you can be guaranteed a window table.) Without the meal it costs $10 for the return trip. Also at the top is a mini cinema showing an NZ travelogue in 70mm at 65 frames/sec. Good image and done with good humour if you can understand 'thet exsunt'.
Bungy Jumping:
(Operated by bungy pioneer A J Hackett) About $90pp. Free if you go naked.)
No WE didn't (jump or go naked), but our two sons were here in August 1992. They both tackled the Awesome Foursome ($300pp) which included the 'World's Highest Bungy' at Skippers Canyon. (71m/234') We spent some time at the lower bungy at the old Kawarau suspension Bridge (43m high), built in 1880 over a gorge. I managed to get the prime viewing spot right next to the jumpers. About 100 others were watching from the side of the gorge. One American girl (about 16) was dared to jump by her little brother. When the time came to take the leap she froze. Precious little brother started calling 'chicken', which didn't help. The bungy operators used their well rehearsed psychological counselling. After the third count-down, she burst into tears and and cried, 'The only way I'll go is if I'm pushed.' They obliged on the next count-down. She ended up all smiles for everyone except for her not-so-precious little brother.
Other less costly things we squeezed in included a drive up to the Coronet Peak ski lodge which is open all year. In summer they have one of the chair lifts operating for the steel slide. ($18 for as many trips up and down as your stomach can stand.) Kiwi and bird park: ($7) It's the only way to see a real kiwi as they are reasonably rare and only active at night. The Kiwi park is next to the base of the Gondolas. Also briefly visited Waterfall Park. OK for family picnics. Now used mostly for evening 'cultural' shows and a meal for international tourist groups. (Re-enactment of NZ history etc.)
Weather:
Generally fine and sunny, but changeable. Storm overnight. Nobody mentioned it, so assumed to be normal.
Food:
Found a good, lively Italian restaurant (Avanti - BYO) where main meals cost about $10. Soup/dessert for $5. Good service, almost too popular, so we shared a table with two American women touring 'the Southern Hemisphere'. There are many other good budget eating places here.
Accommodation:
The 'Queenstown AtoZ' lists 50 hotels/motels. Backpackers from $14 per bed. Several camping grounds, timeshares and private homes on offer. Some seasonal price changes we were told.
Shops:
Mostly woollen goods, money exchange, jewellery (Aussie opals and NZ Jade & Paua shell), ticket offices, cafes and bars, and photo developers.
Tourists:
In approx. (descending) order: Japanese, German, American, UK, Australian. (NZers only work here.) Many signs and brochures are in English, Japanese and German.
Culture?:
Not much here. No central art gallery, theatre or museum. One small cinema. There is a Winter Festival every July. Most of the old buildings have been pulled down and replaced by new ones. Anything for the tourist dollar/yen.
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Queenstown to Te Anau (177Km)
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Reasonably early start in fine, coolish weather. Headed south past the Remarkable Range (still snow capped), through Kingston (home of the Kingston Flyer), past the Eyre mountains. Turned west through Mossburn then onto Te Anau. Mountains and small rivers everywhere. Picturesque countryside, not many trees, fairly uneventful. Weather got warmer but cloudy.
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Te Anau (Pronounced Tee-ARE-now)
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Reached this lakeside town about lunch time. Te Anau is the commercial centre of Fiordland, and looks like it. It has nothing much to offer architecturally, but is a good base for visits and trips to many of the sights in the Fiordland National Park. The park headquarters are here, and they have a large information centre and bird park. Locally there is also a trout observatory and if it's raining there's always the Milford Track & Sound slide show.
Huge number of motels here. Somewhere it was claimed they have 1500 rooms available. Also Motor Camps. The summer population triples to about 10,000. The Fiordland Travel Centre controls most of the trips here where boat, plane or bus is required. We saved a few dollars by booking everything we wanted to see, on the spot. The first visit (that afternoon) was to the glow worm caves on the other side of Lake Te Anau. It took a 45min ferry trip to get there. About 100 aboard. At the cave entrance is a lecture room where we all heard everything we ever wanted to know about glow worms. With typical NZ guide humour, a large round rock was held up and described solemnly as a 'glow worm egg'. A Japanese visitor dutifully took a photograph of it.
The thousands of real glow worms did their thing, looking like a ceiling of green LEDs. The cave is very 'young' and has only one small, pink stalactite called Percy.
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As we were heading for Milford Sound the next day we decided to stay at the Te Anau Downs hotel/motel which is north along the Milford road at the start point for Milford Track ferry. It was very cheap at $55 incl. a huge breakfast. The room was tiny with paper thin towels and walls, but the lake & mountain view was superb. The room had one good architectural feature: by leaving the bathroom door open we could watch TV while on the loo. (Not possible at the $300 Park Royal).
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Milford Road (Took 2 hours to the Sound)
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| The next day the weather turned sour. |
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