Arrowtown, Queenstown and the Routeburn

Continuing down the centre of the south island, our next stop would be Queenstown. However on route we stopped by a little gold mining village called Arrowtown. Another small, quaint town to stop in and mooch round the shops. Luckily the weather had warmed up by now, but so much so it was actually too hot to enjoy any of the local walks.

Not me !

After Arrowtown we headed to our home for the next few days, Queenstown, the party and adrenalin capital of NZ. Our first stop.....one of the numerous bungy jumps of course. Now let's not be fooled into thinking that I would ever contemplate voluntarily throwing myself off a bridge with a bit of elastic band cabled tied to my feet. But I tell you what, just watching the nutters through themselves off the bridge made my stomach flip. I mean sod that !!


We pushed on to Queenstown to find our home for the next few days. We choose a lovely hostel on the lake's edge and only a short walk into town. Now Queenstown has a very laid back, young, ski-type feel to it and one of the places that you can imagine it having a good, fun feeling no matter what time of the year you arrive. Sunshine in summer and snow in winter. We wandered around town to get our bearings and were surprised how big it was, for a NZ town.


The next morning was overcast, so we headed to a nearby shopping precinct to take a look round and wait until the weather improved. The shopping centre was by Queenstown airport. Now this was mainly used by helicopters ferrying people to the top of nearby mountains to mountain bike or hike (or ski in the winter), so another indication of the sporty nature of the surroundings. There is so much to do: jet boating, bungy jumps, canyon swings, wake boarding, mountain biking, luge, parachute jumps, paragliding, zip lining - you name it, you can throw your self off it. 

A view of Queenstown

That afternoon the weather perked up, so we walked up the nearby hill. Well when I say hill, it has a gondola running up it, so more a mountain, but we decided to walk up. The top though was rewarding and again some great views of Queenstown, the lake and surrounding mountain ranges (called the Remarkables, for obvious reasons). Whilst walking up the forest track, we noticed a great series of mountain bike trails running through the woods (something to do when we come back in a few days time.....ahem!). 

We decided to again watch people chuck themselves off another style of bungy. Although this one had the added factor of being harnessed differently, meaning you could (voluntarily) run, jump and somersault off the edge. Bum clenching watching I can assure you! 


That night we decided to reward ourselves with a few beers in town and then some more and maybe a few more. Needless to say the next day was kinda spent entirely in bed. Apart from getting up to make a cup of tea, I don't think we ventured out into day light until gone 5pm....whoops!

Kinloch

Our next day was more productive than the last. We took the short drive from Queenstown, to Glenorchy and then to Kinloch. Both of these are round the lake front and provide a much more sedate and secluded feel than the buzz of Queenstown. From here we planned to relax for a few days and get out to experience the surrounding walks.

The next day we decided to stretch our legs with a full days hike. Close by was the start of a 3 day trek (or as kiwi's call them a tramp), called the Routeburn track. This is a proper hike, with camping and hut facilities along a route that winds through and over the mountain ranges. We decided to do a return trip to the 2nd hut along the way, a 17 Km walk which would take us 7 hours in all.


We started the track in a cool but very sunny morning and climbed through dense forests. These 
then ran along side crystal clear, blue rivers with some amazing view of streams and rivers, which had started higher up in the snow capped mountains. After 2-3 hours we reached the first hut and took a short breather, whilst taking in the view. We had reached the "flats" an area which as the name suggests had been carved out by the long gone glacier, but it was an impressive space, with falls grasses and a beautiful stream running through it. So far so good, a relatively easy walk. The next bit had the steeper sections in it. We cracked on for 1.5 hours and reached the 2nd hut, close to a waterfall, where we stopped for lunch.


The views from here were truly breath taking, a high up view down over the flats, which were then flanked by the mountains. All of it very impressive. This place just does seem to be surpass itself in every way, the next mountain or river is more impressive than the last.
We headed back and with our return journey down hill we made it back to the car in just over 3 hours. A long walk, but with some spectacular views.
We stayed another night in Kinloch and were grateful of a comfy sofa and tv room stocked with DVDs to relax after our long walk the bonus of free popcorn also helped!