New Zealand South Island (Nov 2010, Part 2)

Day 4 ( Queenstown, River Rafting)

Today was the start of our activities in the happening town of Queenstown. River rafting was the event for the day.  It was a short walk from our motel to the town centre. Before reporting to the rafting centre in town, we got ourselves some sandwiches from the café nearby. We signed up for the morning rafting session with the Queenstown Rafting but ended walking into another companies river rafting counter and when they saw our email confirmation they just politely informed us it was the other rafting company down the road. Well, who can blame us as all of them look alike and offering the same rafting at the same location.

Even though we were 1^st timers, we signed up for the Shotover River  (Serious White Water) package which is deemed as grade 3 ~ 5. Why we choose this is because of the route which travels from the Skippers Canyon all the way to the rafting base which shares the site location as the shotover  jet boat ride.  Some prerequisites like participants needs to be water confident since life jackets are provided.

At the Shotover River Rafting Base

We were the 1^st of the group to arrive at the shop and after registration, we just hanged around the shop while waiting for the other members to arrive. There was a free coach transfer to bring us to the rafting base where we suited up with thermal wet suites, collected our gears like life jackets. It was weird walking on those wet suit shoes and boarding the mini bus that would take us to the launch point for the rafts. All our belongings like wallets and passports were left in group lockets at the rafting base house. A few boats were loaded onto a wagon towed by the bus.  The bus has to be small because the narrow mountain road that we would be travelling to get to the start point. The bus left the rafting base and travelled on the tar road before climbing up a steep mountain road where we could see The Remarkables and even Corona Peak in the distance.  The climb was steep and it seemed like the bus could take forever to reach the top. The staff helped to alleviate the boredom by telling jokes and working out the paperwork and indemnity form for us to sign. We were the only Asians in the group with many from Australia and some from European countries.

The mountain road was very narrow, just enough for the width of one vehicle and only at certain parts that the path widened up for 2 vehicle width. The sides were steep drops down to the gorges and ravine below and the staff told us of stories of accidents that happened before, making the drive seemed much more exciting.  At certain parts of the route when we stick our heads out of the bus window and looked down, we could see the ground and river below us. Any mistakes by the driver and definitely would be fatal for everyone. 

It was a relief when we reached the river banks and started helping to unload the boats from the wagon. Everyone grabbed a rowing oar and assemble for the briefing. The mood started casual but turned slightly serious as the one of the staff explained the safety and recovery procedures that needed to be followed during the rafting. When the briefing was done, it was photo taking by their official photographer so that interested participants could purchase those photos back at the base. Well you cannot bring your own camera to take pictures unless you bring one that is waterproof and shock-proof (Don’t know if they allow that). The rest of the explanation and learning was taught while we paddle down the river, learning how to navigate through the different rapids. We went through most of the rapids without much difficulties, although there were some which causes the paddlers to fumble inside the boat knocking hard into each. Luckily we had the helmets on as I got a hard knock on the helmet by the paddlers in front of me. If not sure would get a bad bruise on the head. The grand finale was the last rapid where we rowed the boat into a long dark tunnel (man-made) before exiting the tunnel with a drop to the Shotover River near the rafting base. This is the part where our photograph will be taken by their standby photographer. From here it was just guiding the boat back to the river banks where we got off the boat.  That marked the end of the rafting activity and it was back to the locker room to change and retrieve our belongings. Photos were displayed for sale at the booth of the café, we decided not to purchase the photos as it did not have ourselves captured nicely. Some choose to hang around the café enjoying their cuppa. But was for us, we took the next shuttle transfer back to town for lunch.

End point of the rafting session at Shotover River

Delicious Japanese food at Queenstown

We chanced upon this Japanese restaurant in town that served quite authentic Japanese food prepared by Japanese chefs. It was not that pricey for the good quality and taste, and it was really value for money. After lunch, it was back to the motel for some washing up. Problem with the activities at Queenstown is that you only got time to do one activity a day since most of the morning activities end around lunch time, making it impossible to rush for the afternoon activities. Since we were bored, we took the car and drove to Arrowtown. We were there back in year 2009, so it was just to kill time by revisiting the place again.  Arrowtown is a popular stop for tour groups but I found the place not that existing and meant for family activities like bring the kids down the stream for gold panning. We spent an hour there only before headed back to Queenstown.

At one of the shops at Arrowtown

BBQ ribs at the "Flame" Restaurant

TSS Earnslaw, docked at the Skippers Wharf

The rest of the day was wandering the streets of Queenstown until dinner time which we got ourselves a nice table at a restaurant called “The Flame”,  with a view of the park near the jetty. This is the part of the town where there are loads of tourists hanging around that area for strolls and dinners. We ordered some ribs and cream pastas as main course and ended with some nice deserts.

Day 5 (Queenstown, Ben Lomond Hike)

Halfway up the track to Ben Lomond SUmmit

The blog for day 5 is already covered in a dedicated blog with the URL link as mentioned below.

http://peanutstravels.blogspot.com/2010/12/ben-lomond-track-queenstown-nz.html

Here is a short video taken at the summit with a 360 view of the surroundings.

Day 6 ( Queenstown, Earnslaw Farm, Te Anau)

Getting out tickets for the cruise and the farm tour

Sailing across Lake Wakatipu towards Earnslaw High Country Farm

Today was out last day at Queenstown before driving to our next destination of Te Anau. We signed up for the TSS Earnslaw & Walter peak High Country Farm when we were at Queenstown the 2^nd day. Did not book in advance as there were lots of vacancies for that part of the year. You can take the cruise alone which is a round trip across the beautiful Lake Wakatipu, or bundle it with a visit to the Walter Peak Hugh Country Farm.  We took a 10mins walk from our motel down to the Steamer Wharf near the town centre  where the boat was docked .  After registering with the ticket counter to get our tickets, we boarded the boat and went to the upper deck to enjoy the sun and the view of the lake. Morning was slight gloomy and some dark clouds were forming in a distant mountains.  With a blow of the boat’s horns,  it left the wharf and slowly cruised across the wide open lake towards the farm.  The boat has a small café on board for passengers to grab some light breakfast and tea should they missed them.  It was an additional morning time slot only available in summer, and being early in the morning should explain the lesser crowd. After 50mins on the boat, we arrived at the high country farm.

Walter Peak High County Farm Map Layout

The host of the farm was already waiting and waving to the passengers on the boat, welcoming those that would disembark to join the farm excursion. And yes, the NZ journey staffs would be checking your tickets to see if you had paid for this part of the excursion.

Sheep coming down the hill, being herded by the sheep dog

The first stop was a short walk to an open field where the farm dog (couldn’t remember the name) would round up the sheep cornering them to stand in group near us. The host would whistle to the dog for tasks to show the visitors. Then came the feeding part which everyone enjoyed. We grabbed some feed from the farmers’ bucket and fed the sheep that surrounded us.  They seemed hungry maybe because we were the 1^st group of the day. 

A sheep udnergoing the "shave"

A reindeer at the farm

Next was the sheep shearing shed where the farm staff picked an innocent sheep for a quick barber session.  Guess it was the explaining that made the entire shearing task seemed long, if not guess the sheep should be bald in just minutes. With that it was the end of the guided tour. 

Place to get our complimentary tea and snacks.

Morning tea or juices were available at the homestead besides the farm and this is complimentary as part of the package. Those that signed up for the BBQ lunch would proceed for the lunch meal.  We decided to give the BBQ lunch a miss as we thought of the greater variety of food back in Queenstown.  It was a free and easy after the tea session and we wandered around the farm to spend some quiet moments with the animals while waiting for our return boat to arrive. Normally there would be quite a fair bit of time for visitors to shop around at the souvenir shop. We took a leisure walk to the lake side with some of the other visitors.  At around noon time, the TSS Earnslaw came, unloading new batch of farm visitors while picking up the initial batch for the return trip to Queenstown. I did curiously check on Google map if the place can be reached by land and I believed so, but it will be a very long drive till you get the main highway. Not sure if they accept visitors who drove to the farm or not.

TSS Earnslaw approaching the Skippers' Wharf at Queenstown

At around 1pm, we were back at Queenstown, walking the streets to pick a place for lunch before the drive to Te Anau. We were expecting lesser food choice at Te Anau and therefore wanted to stuff our stomach first before going to Te Anau. We picked a restaurant bar by the name of Captains  Restaurant , which only has a few dinners at that time( seldom anyone want to get alcoholic during lunch time), maybe because competition is touch for customers during lunch time as most of them would be out adventuring or joining some excursion.  The ambience was great, quiet and food was good as well. We ordered 2 main course to share and the portion was huge for Asian like us. It was really an enjoyable meal for us and we took a picture of the restaurant to remind ourselves where found this place.

Lunch venue for the day

With our stomach filled, we walked slowly up the inclined road back to our motel to collect our car for the drive to Te Anau.  It started to drizzle again with the dark clouds above, and after 15 mins of drive out of Queenstown on highway 6A, we did a quick stop at the Remarkables shopping mall which is located near the Queenstown International Airport.  There were some shops catering more to the locals where you will find supermarkets, medical clinics, DIY marts and DVD rentals.

One of the shops at The Remarkables Mall

We continued highway 6 which skirted along the Lake Wakatipu, giving us great view of the lake and the mountains all the way to the southern tip end of the lake with a town by the name of Kingston.  The drive from there onwards was over the flat farmlands between 2 sides of the mountain. It was around 4pm but the evening sun seemed to give the impression of a later time. From highway 6 we changed to highway 97 via the town called Mossburn which eventually joined to the Te Anau-Mossburn Highway of 94. Could not recall where the exact location when we saw a sign board saying last stop for fuel before Te Anau. 

Taking a photo shoot break by the road side of a quiet road

We stopped at the shop and got ourselves a mint ice cream, taking the opportunity to stretch out a little from the driving. Actually it wasn’t a tiring drive compared to the ones we had before from Kaikoura to Franz Josef, the distance between Queenstown and Te Anau us about 175km and can be completed about 2.5hrs. From this ice cream stop it was a non-stop drive to Te Anau. We reached the town of Te Anau about 5:30pm and 1^st stop was to the local petrol station to fill up the tank.  We planned for a 3 night stay at Te Anau, wanting to use it as the base for our next 3 days of activity which include a visit to Milford sound. 

Motel signboard just along the road facing the lake

Front view of the motel

We check-in at the Lakeside motel which is located just next to the lake and a short distance to the town centre.  We got ourselves a big unit, sort of like those chalet or cottage type which has everything from kitchen, living room, 2 bedrooms and toilets. The unit can house a family of 5. So we had the entire big unit to the 2 of us.  Knowing small towns tend to have shops and eatery close at an earlier time, we unloaded our bags into our rooms and drove to the town centre looking for food. Actually when we came into town from the highway 94, we spotted an Itallian restaurant serving pizza and pasta which caught my eyes. So it was a straight drive to the restaurant. The food establishment seemed to have some authenticity of Italian food. Well it turned out the food to my taste buds were good. 

Yummy pasta in the town of Te Anau

 After dinner we went over to the supermarket which was just beside the Italian restaurant. We bought some snacks and beer for the night’s TV time and also some breakfast and foodstuff for the next day activity to Milford sound. Wouldn’t want to be caught without food while heading to the Milford sound area. Besides the cruise terminal at the end of the Milford highway, getting a decent meal can be difficult and challenging.  It was end of day for us after the supermarket shopping and back to the motel for the night’s rest.

End of Part 2.



Proceed on to NZ South Island, Part 3