Christchurch to Queenstown

1 February 2008

Today we picked up our rental car. We decided to rent a larger car than we have in the past, and as the day progressed we were very glad we did.

We managed to get out of Christchurch without too many wrong turns! (Matt: OK only one – stupid one-way / no-entry sign outside the car rental place – can’t even blame the navigator here, it was me who had the directions!!) State Highway 1 south of Christchurch is a very, very dull stretch of road. The only things to enliven it were our horror at the driving habits of some New Zealanders, and the road works. Matt was doing the driving (it’s only 3-ish hours to Twizel), and was horrified at some of the things he saw. The car we have is a 6 cylinder 4.0 litre beast, and had fantastic acceleration, but the Kiwi’s don’t seem to appreciate that when you are overtaking, you are supposed to be going faster than the vehicle you are overtaking before you pass, not just as you catch up! The speed limit for the open road is 100kmph, and in many areas it just simply isn’t safe to travel that fast. We had wiener-heads overtaking us at 120k’s just before blind corners, and the like. “How can he see around the corner?” “He’s using the Force, Luke…” We were very glad to get off SH1.

Heading inland to Twizel (via Mackenzie country) was – yet another – eye opener for Matt. The Canterbury plains – very much Canberra-like actually in colour and sparsity of vegetation on cultivated land (but with more bunnies and birds of prey) – gradually gave way to more and more hills. “Look Matty, crinkly bits!” Very hard to understand that settlers chose to live there to raise sheep, given the wealth of land across the Tasman around that time.

Of course, by this time, rain set in (hey, it’s NZ). Road was Ok in the big car, and we had a good stop at Lake Tekapo. Its bright, milky blueness was amazing – all from its glacial schist base. We had to compete at the Church of the Good Shepherd with the inevitable tour coaches (fortunately we seemed to be going against, rather than with, them), but it was still pretty spectacular. Matt asked the daft question “why is there a large window behind the altar?” Erm, so you can apparently reflect on the natural glory created by God (if that is what you believe) – or more likely so that you have something to look at during a boring sermon! By the time we hit Lake Pukaki the weather had turned to shite. Kath said that a mountain was there “Really Matty, really!”. But even a return visit the next day was a cloudfest. Twizel was very “Canberra Suburb” like, mostly because it was designed as a “planned town” in the 60’s to service the construction of the hydro-electric scheme, of which nearby Lake Dunstan and the Clyde Dam form a key part. A very Belconnen feel too - the “pubs are in the shopping centre” layout. We were glad we got to Twizel when we did, and the weather really closed in, making us glad we brought that warm weather gear with us! Our motel in Twizel was actually the best accommodation we have had in NZ (Aspen Court) up till this point. Clean (no mould! no mould!), bright, big, open. Nice people too.

We battled through the weather to the pub, and watched the local lads (country boys – pick those who had been to boarding school!) try to hit on the bar girls, meanwhile it was happy hour with 2 fer 1, except for some wines. (Matt here: that's buy 1 and get 2, whether or not you want 2 - hey, they were very adamant). The lads were hitting the rum and coke a bit too hard, and didn’t appear to be making much headway! After a couple of warming drinks, we went to a local restaurant for dinner, which was nice but not spectacular.


2 February 2008

Today, it was off to Queenstown, after an abortive trip back up the road to Lake Pukaki to see if Mt. Cook was showing his head. Again Matt drove, with Kathy in charge of the photography. The drive through from Twizel and over the Lindis Pass is just spectacular!

Lots of ‘crinkly’ bits, and lots of “oh my god” moments. (Matt – I swore to myself I wasn’t going to do it whilst driving, but there were so many blind turns into the most gorgeous passes that had postcard perfect backdrops – I literally gasped, much to Kathy’s enduring giggling). The weather also held. At Twizel it was a little cloudy and cool, with the clouds clinging to the peaks in a beautiful way (unless you’re up in them, then it’s a bitch), and the further we went south, the better the weather got.

We stopped for a late coffee/early lunch at Cromwell. We had a wander around the “historic village “, which was really only buildings moved when Lake Dunstan was filled, and was pretty lame. Still, we had a nice sausage roll each (well, nice the first time, but not as it repeated on us!), and sat and watched the guys water skiing and wake-boarding on the lake. A much better place is Arrowtown. Another “must do” on anyone’s list when they’re down this end of the country. Very pretty, and a bit quaint, but soooo much better then Cromwell (Kath called poor old Cromwell “a lame to fame”). We wandered about Arrowtown, and walked along to the remains of the Chinese settlement. That was really good, and it was a bit sad to read about the way in which the Chinese miners were treated. Mind you, in 100 years time how will we be judged by our descendents?

After wandering through the Chinese settlement, we walked up to the Arrowtown cemetery. It was a little disappointing, as there were no graves prior to the 1890’s, so we did wonder where the gold era graves were (All the signs said it was part of the Chinese display but it was the actual current-era Arrowtown graveyard). But it was also sad. That said, if you didn’t die from accident, childbirth or war you did tend to have a good chance of living a long life, and if you were a woman you could live up to 20 years longer than your spouse of (another) 12 years younger (go women!! Matt – go lonely women). The graves of children are always sad to see, but that sadness was alleviated by watching the rabbits running between the graves!

From Arrowtown (and the ‘oh my gosh’ scenery) it was on to the breathtaking beauty of Queenstown. This town has to be one of the most beautiful places either of us have ever been to. The Remarkables are just that – remarkable. It is so beautiful here.

Fast forward : On our last day we heard a pair of yanks say “this is the most beautiful place I have seen in my entire life” – and neither Kathy nor Matt could object to that. We tried, but its simply true. It’s not the most picturesque, not the most remote - it just has something! If you are not moved by Queenstown you have no heart. Come here at least once, whoever you are! It’s amazing (more next post!). (Kath - Mind you, Matt lived in Wellington for 2 years and didn’t come here at all – Matt, I love you but you are a bit of a dick sometimes! Matt – yep, my words exactly, what a dopey bastard!)