Days 11, 12 and 13 – Wanaka to Queenstown

Last time I posted (Easter Saturday) we’d just arrived in Wanaka which is a jewel of a town. There were people everywhere because the Warbirds Over Wanaka Airshow was on. We spent the afternoon lazing around in town after a short execution west of Wanaka around the lake. That night we camped here:

 

Easter Sunday (Day 12) was a perfect day – no cloud, no wind – so headed for the Airshow. This is one of the big 4 airshows for warbirds in the world and displayed a huge range of aircraft from WW1 to the modern day and from all over the world, but especially WW1 and WW2. All going through their routines of aerobatics and flight control. Very impressive. There were thousands of people there but we got a position about 50mtrs from the runway and 100mtrs from the centre of action. I’d had a bit to do with some of these planes in my earlier skydiving days and I’ve always found aircraft quite facinating – the rich man’s motorcycle 🙂
We camped by the eastern shores of Lake Dunstall for the night.

 

Day 13, Easter Monday, dawned picture perfect again and we headed for Cromwell at the head of Lake Dunstall where the Motor Caravaning Association had just wrapped up its AGM with over 1000 motorhomes in attendance – so you can imagine, there’s motorhomes everywhere. We had a look around town and then had morning tea here:

Took in some more tourist attractions before turning west for Queenstown through the Kawarau Gorge which has some wonderful views. Stopped at a couple of places on the way, one being a bungy jump from an old suspension bridge over the gorge.
In the mid 1800s gold was discovered right throughout the west and southern regions of the south island and 1000s of people flocked to these areas. What fascinates me is the terrible terrain they travelled, the deprevation and hardship they endured, because just driving through here on modern roads is quite an experience. There is evidence of the gold strikes everywhere.
We stopped for a late lunch at Arrowtown which is another gold town of old and now a quaint tourist destination in the middle of the southern alps. After lunch had a read, a snooze, and look around town before haeding for Lake Hayes by a very round-a-bout route where we camped for the night. This is only 10klms from Arrowtown and we camped here:

   

Tomorrow it’s Queenstown. We’re having a great time and really enjoying ourselves and each other.

Well, it’s now tomorrow and I’m in Queenstown doing this. We’ve got a bit of a problem with the van – the alternator bracket has broken off so we’ll have to wait around here untill tomorrow to get it fixed because today (Tuesday) is a public holiday, Otago Day or something. So hopefully I’ll find an engineering workshop that will weld the bracket up or have to make a new one. Hopefully.

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