NZ Day 3  April 6 2011


Both wake up calls worked today. Dodgy hot water system though, the hot water is scalding, plus the hot tap is on the right so any unsuspecting child could do some real damage.


Lots of driftwood on the beach at Bruce Bay – (reminds me of Washington State beaches) en route to Haast River.

Haast River Safari ( a one hour jet boat ride complete with 360 degree burn outs)  Some of the water an ice blue caused by rock pulverised by distant glaciers. Little bird life because of little marine life. That can be found in the tributaries. Trees named or misnamed by early explorers, eg. Pines (that are not pines) named because of the colour when split eg white, red, black. There is a proper Maori name for them.

One of many scenic outlooks en route.

The Haast river was once the only ‘highway’. Even cattle were driven down it, and prospectors used it. In Arrowtown (near Queenstown) in the mid 1800s, more gold was taken from there than from San Francisco.

A story told by Chris our driver. One of his passengers a 93 year old man, declared himself a teenager. ‘Why?’ asked Chris. ‘I don’t work and I’m on drugs.’

Deer hunting season has just opened. Now there are many deer farms but they started out of deer hunting safaris. 2 million deer are farmed in the country, main export is the velvet from the first antler formation of 12 month old deer. It's used in Chinese medicine, good for arthritis.

Passed Thunder Creek Falls 28m high. Haast pass 564m high.

Lunch at Moeraki so so, but ice cream divine. I had Kiwi flavour.

Brief stop at Lake Wanaka, white dinosaur slide and hand of friendship. Famous airshow called ‘warbirds over Wanaka’ started by a man with a passion for old planes, eg spitfires.

Cool slide!

We crossed the 45th parallel... and Wooing Tree Vineyard.

Passed the original Bungy Jump site, devised by A. J. Hackett who has just got married. Lives in Paris. His wife is a beautician with a salon in Christchurch. It has a chandelier which survived the earthquake. Wife really wanted it for her wedding, and they managed to rescue it.

Karawera river. Coronet Peak popular skiing resort.

Hand of friendship at Lake Wanaka.

The mountain range The Remarkables run from N to S.

Arrived Queenstown 5.30pm. Found the Lone Star to eat. Helpings enormous, shared lamb shanks with Barbara, Margaret & Rae shared chicken breast. Kit had medium rare steak. No photos of food this time.

Lake Wanaka again.