Arrowtown/Queenstown

We had a bit of a lie in before leaving our motel. Partly due to the comfort. Mostly due to finishing off things on the internet. With the advice of our eldest, John, I’ve bought a better camera to work underwater. Long term blog readers may have noticed the far better quality of his underwater pics compared to mine and I want to do better (than my old ones).

Our plan was to drive to Arrowtown and then on to Queenstown to find a campsite. After leaving Wanaka I noticed that we were pretty low on fuel. We decided to keep going and chance it. I ended up feeling quite nervous as the road took us up into the clouds over a kilometer from sea level. There was a view point at the top but it was like the inside of a ping pong ball and I didn’t want to risk running out of fuel. Our GPS listed the nearest fuel station as being near Queenstown so we postponed Arrowtown and went straight for the fuel.

Now that we were in the Queenstown area we checked out a couple of holiday campgrounds there and after finding them a bit too crowded we headed out to the top 10 near the shotover river. This campsite was far better and up in the mountains so be booked a spot and put the tent out to air.

We then drove to Arrowtown and found it as quaint as we’d been told by many others who had encouraged us to go there. We had pies for lunch and then wandered around for a while. As the weather was perfect we decided to go for a nearby hike. On the way we saw a couple coming towards us waving madly. I took me a second to realize they were waving as and then a second more to realize it was Brian and Jodon from El Regalo who we’d first met out in Fakarava. What a nice surprise. We sat on a bench chatting for a while and catching up. They’d just been on the same hike we were heading for. They were moving around by bus and soon had to catch their’s. We exchanged phone numbers in case we can hook up again.

Our hike was a 2-3 hour loop around German Hill called Sawpit Gully – Arrow Gorge track. This was a very enjoyable hike albeit with a strenuous climb to begin with. Against Brian’s advice we went clockwise to get the steep climb over and done with and have a more leisurely descent. The high point of the hike didn’t quite reach the peak of German Hill. Helen and I had different oppinions on whether or not we should take the side trail to the top. We ended up with Helen seeking shade while I took to the summit.

We soon met up again and made our way down. The scenery was, as ever it seems round here, fantastic. We met an English couple by a waterfall and chatted for a while before heading down to town. After picking up some supplies in the supermarket we headed back to the campsite and set up all the bedding, chairs and tables in the tent before cracking open a beer for our pleasure.