South Island, New Zealand
01/25/2005 - 02/01/2005
The view over Queenstown with the 6800 ft high "Remarkables" in the background and Lake Wakatipu in the foreground. A gondola takes riders 1500 feet above Queenstown for some incredible views.
The commons in downtown Queenstown. Gorgeous weather brought everyone outdoors to relax in the sunshine. We saw only one cloudy day in all eight days in Queenstown.
Rows of tourist shops might be distasteful to some, but we enjoyed the restaurants, cafes, Internet cafes, and shops. It was just nice to know they were here, with great wilderness areas right around the corner.
Lake Wakatipu and the shallows from the Queenstown waterfront. The water was clear and cool, but warm enough to swim in (near shore).
The Queenstown waterfront looking toward the Remarkables (or "Remarks" as the locals call them. There is excellent greenspace around the town and a nice set of walking and bike trails. The peninsula in the middle of the lake is a golf course and park where boaters, jet skis, and picnickers relax on their days off.
This is a pedestrian mall where shops, restaurants, and cafes bustle most of the day. Here is one of the quieter moments.
The view of Queenstown Hill from Steamer Wharf. Our accommodation, the Bellehaven B&B lodge is right up this hill and to the right.
This is the view out our window at the Bellehaven B&B. The mountain is just across Lake Wakatipu.
View up the beach on the Frankton Arm of Lake Wakatipu toward the Remarks. Photo taken from a small park on the peninsula near Kelvin Heights.
Another view from the Bellehaven B&B - sunset on the Remarkables. In the winter time, these peaks are deep in snow. A ski area at the top of the Remarks leaves us curious to find out what a New Zealand Ski resort is like. We'll drive up the Remarkables and find out in a few days. Many hard-core North American and European skiers/snow-boarders escape to New Zealand for the great skiing in June, July, and August -- the ski-season "down under".
The view from the top of the gondola is spectacular. The gondola from town brings tourists up here to the cafes, restaurants, paragliding operations, or the "Land Luge". There is no skiing here (from this peak) in winter. Nearby Coronet Peak and the Remarkables offer skiing.
With the Remarks in the background, Queenstown in the foreground, the peninsula and Kelvin Heights in the middle, and Lake Wakatipu all around -- one might get the idea that this would be a beautiful place to live and work. Hmmm. Nice idea, but what is the reality? We'll ask around.
The view down the mountain with the gondola climbing the steep face. From this perspective, the town looks compact and well organized, with lots of greenspace.
The view up the pretty lake -- away from Queenstown, with Queenstown Bay in the foreground. Look how nice and clear the water is.
While the views from the gondola were great, the Land Luge at the top was a huge attraction. Robin and Duncan did two different spells of land luging while in Queenstown.
Can we do it again? Can we do it again? Can we? Robin's grin provides a small indication of how much fun this is. We did five runs each on each of the two days were up here, and could have done three times that. It's a blast. There is an advanced run and a "scenic" run and the rider controls steering and speed.
Whooo Hoooo!!! Robin finishes one of her first runs down the track.
Several Tandem Paragliding companies offer piloted rides from the top of Bob's Peak. For more $, you go farther up the mountain at about 3000 feet elevation. The rides are fairly short because after about 10 minutes flying gently over town, the pilots take their gliders into a "death spiral". It's not unusual to hear people screaming frequently in the skies above Queenstown.
The Paraglider
The tandem paragliding over Queenstown re-kindled Duncan's desire to look into paragliding as a possible activity. Duncan has wanted to try paragliding since the summer of 2003 in Telluride, Colorado where we watched the Paragliding National Cross-Country Competition.
Queenstown has several paragliding schools and Duncan decided to try one and see if he could figure it out. After one day of "bunny hill" glider handling exercises, he decided to try a flight off one of the larger mountain peaks -- Coronet Peak. But first, a day of rest and sightseeing on the Dart River north of Queenstown.
These 4000-6000 ft mountains line the southern and western side of Lake Wakatipu. The full moon is just visible above the mountains on the right. Except for a few pastures visible on the far side of the lake, the other side of the huge lake is undeveloped and inaccessible except by track or boat.
Dart River Safaris
We drove northwest out of Queenstown toward Glenorchy at the north end of Lake Wakatipu. Sunrise over the lake provided some great photo opportunities and we stopped to click a few panoramas.
Once in Glenorchy, we grabbed a quick breakfast and a flat white (coffee) at a local cafe, before heading off to the Dart River Safaris base to begin a day out on the river. We received briefings and donned wetsuits, fleeces, life-jackets, and wetsuit booties. Fully outfitted, we lumbered onto a transport bus. The bus shuttled us quickly over to the river a few blocks away where we climbed into a jet boat. Royce, the jet boat skipper and his 11 passengers were ready to GO!
Another view down Lake Wakatipu at dawn. The full moon is visible over one of the peaks on the left. Thick snow-cover is still visible on the mountains to the right. The Dart River runs down out of the mountains on the far right and feeds into the northwest end of Lake Wakatipu. Pig Island and Pigeon Island are up the lake farther on the right.
The boat is loaded and ready to take on the river. Jet boats have a very shallow draft when they are moving full speed. At 20-30 knots, we travel in 4-6 inches of water - a feature required in some of the shallow areas of the river.
Royce, our driver and guide, has a great feel for the river, the boat, and the passengers. He was conservative enough to keep the wimps happy, and reckless enough to keep Robin & Duncan happy.
We are moving along at about 30 knots, in 1 ft deep water and Royce is about as relaxed as it gets. We only scraped bottom once. Royce demonstrated impressive steering skills.
The only way to get a feel for this would be to check out this video.
This tributary of the Dart river was crystal clear, whereas the main river was a cloudy, silty gray.
A companion boat arrives behind us and does a huge in-control (mostly) spin-out. Spin-outs are one of the thrills of the jet boat rides. They lose their grip on the water very easily and with some fancy helm maneuvers, can do a 360 degree spin.
A quick break for an explanation of the surrounding wilderness. The jet boats are fairly loud (a bad thing for serenity), but we can hear them coming (a good thing) from up and downstream when taking our Funyak canoes downriver. We are able to get out of their way.
The Funyaks
We arrived at the end of the jet boat tour about an hour or so up the Dart river. It was a fun, exhilarating ride, and would be contrasted with just the opposite -- a fun, relaxing paddle back down the Dart river in a "Funyak".
A Funyak (a fun, inflatable canoe or kayak-like boat, get it?) allows us to paddle back down the river to the pick-up point. We will stop for lunch and take a paddle a tour of an beautiful side gorge. The a final stretch downstream will get us to our pick-up point at Paradise (flats).
Another jet-boat brings the Funyaks upstream to the starting point. We inflate the canoes, grab a couple of paddles, then kneel in the canoe and practice maneuvering. Once our guides are satisfied we can control the Funyak, we follow him down the river. There are only three or four boats per guide, and for those that could not control their boat, they tied up to the guide's Funyak.
Inflating the Funyaks in preparation for our downstream trip.
Funyak #21 is our choice speed machine for this competition. Oh wait, that's right, this isn't a race.
Robin decides to take a quick refresher in the near-ice water. The water temp is 9 degrees centigrade, or about 48 degrees Fahrenheit. Too cold for most sane people.
Exploring up the turquoise gorge. The setting was beautiful and the scenery dramatic, but the water was way too cold!
The gorge spilled beautiful turquoise water down from the mountains. We were silly enough to plunge into this water. The shock upon entry reminds us to this day why falling for the "double dog dare" is never good.
This photograph was take shortly before plunging into the 48 degree water. Don't we look happy and relaxed. A buffet lunch is ferried in by one of the jet boats every day and dropped off by the turquoise gorge. We beach the Funyaks and come ashore for beverages, salads, and "make-your-own" sandwiches.
Here we navigate the level .5 rapids. They are fun and fast, and the risk of capsize is low.
We arrive in Paradise (aka Paradise Flats) and deflated and rolled up our Funyaks. It is mid-afternoon and we have had a great day on the Dart River.
The view from Paradise is pretty amazing. This would be an awesome place to camp and explore. The jet boats might be a bit annoying if you are looking for peace and quiet, but the scenery would make up for it.
Packing up the Funyaks at paradise. Time to call it a day.
Robin sits in the back seat. Better get on the bus!
More beautiful views of Lake Wakatipu. The light plays very differently in the mid-afternoon.
This is the same view but really zoomed in. Pig & Pigeon Islands are in the middle.
The lake is still calm in the afternoon and the shadows highlight the ruggedness of the mountain slopes.
Some forests and bush are visible on the far side of the lake. The tree-line is probably a good indicator of the winter snow line. Snow only accumulates and stays above about 2000-3000 feet in the winter.
The rugged and remarkable Remarkables. The "Remarks" will be our target for exploration the next day. We are interested in New Zealand's "ski fields" and wonder whether to come back in the winter to do some skiing here. There is also a take-off point for paragliders up there that is accessible by helicopter.
After a 10 mile climb up a narrow, winding, dirt road, we approach the bowl at the top of the Remarkables. Although there is a shuttle bus from the bottom of the mountain in the winter, most locals just drive their own cars up.
The lodge at the top is simple. A couple of cafes, restrooms, lockers, and that's about it. No lodging. This is strictly a daytime destination.
There are lots of black diamond runs here. Not much in the way of cruising blues, which is what we like.
The narrow, winding (picture icy) road up to the parking area "only kills a couple of people" every year. Our suggestions of a high speed gondola from the base of the mountain to the top were laughed at. "Why spend a zillion on a gondola, when we can just drive up. It only takes an hour from town (when they're going uphill at 40 MPH)."
Heading back down the mountain toward Queenstown. Lake Johnson near the Shotover River appears below.
The Shotover River dumps into another river just east of Queenstown. The Shotover Canyon is another jet boat destination. We are getting the birds-eye view, some 5-6000 feet up.
Here is a good example of the silty river water from the Shotover merging with the nice clear Kawarau River running off Lake Wakatipu.
The Queenstown Airport lies at the base of the Remarks. Large Air New Zealand jets come in and out of here daily.
A panorama from the face of the Remarkables looking west toward Milford. Queenstown is all along the lake on the right. Ben Lemond peak rises up behind Queenstown.
Arrowtown is a quaint historic village just 10 miles northeast of Queenstown. Quiet with all the amenities of a small tourist town, the town remains virtually unknown because it lies just a few miles off the beaten track.
We drove up Coronet Peak, the other nearby ski field, to learn about the field conditions and to check out the views.
And what a view this is. Looking southwest from Coronet Peak toward the Remarkables. The valley below is undeveloped and pristine. There is one fancy golf resort and a couple of small B&B's and Farmstays. The road in the valley below leads left to Arrowtown.
From the road nearing the top of Coronet, the flight park for paragliders and hang-gliders lies about 2000 feet below in the center of this picture. In a couple days, Duncan runs off the top of Coronet peak four times practicing his solo paragliding and working toward his PG-1 beginners paragliding certificate.
This is the reverse view from the flight park looking up toward Coronet peak. The launch area is just out of sight and over the ridge to the right. The landing zone is here in the foreground. A fellow pilot packs up her gear in preparation for another shuttle ride to the top.
A couple of paragliders are setting up for their landings. Of Duncan's four flights off Coronet Peak, two landings were excellent and two were embarrassing. Oh well, not too bad, after the 40 flights required to get his PG-2 paragliding pilot's license, he should have the hang of it.
Elevation Paragliding (the team Duncan flew with) is based at this nice flight park building between Arrowtown and Queenstown. They did an excellent job of teaching and Duncan hopes to someday resume his paragliding training.
Off to Wanaka and the West Coast
After eight wonderful days in Queenstown, it was time to move north and west. We REALLY loved Queenstown and think this might be one of those places we'll want to visit again and again -- and at different times of the year. We are well into our South Island tour now and have to start moving again in order to see the rest of all the awesome stuff the South Island has to offer. So off we go!