From Wanaka Lakeview Campground (Kiwi Holiday Parks) to Queenstown Lakeview Campground (Kiwi Holiday Parks) - pretty much exactly 50 miles or 80kms. We took the Cardrona road which goes up over the highest paved road in NZ. Cardrona was reached in time for a leisurely lunch and is famous for the 'Gin and the Raspberry' phrase - shouted on discovery of a gold nugget and later turned into a folk song (as sung notably by Damien Barber). Cardrona is also a name that turns up, with gold mining related themes, in other songs. Tourists are odd creatures. No one visited the heritage site while we were there though one person took a photo without leaving their campervan and anothr got his wife to read out the information board, without either leaving their vehicle, but started driving away as she was reading.The valley is gentle up to Cardrona but then gets steeper - and the last bit up to a bit over 1000m above see level is around 1 in 6 for a fair km or two. At the top we met Steve and Carol. We took photos, even got an american tourist to take photos of the four of us, plus photos of various of us heading off downhill towards Queenstown.The ride down was fun, superb views so I took some video footage of the mountains, and a cyclist.Then we diverted into Arrowtown, a quaint place but evidently, as Queenstown, a real estate boom was on (half a million dollars for a smallish log cabin style plot?). We viited, with Carol and Steve, the Arrowtown Brewery, which is basically a bar with some stainless steel vats behind. The Schist Stout was excellent. Sadly no bottles available to keep for this evening.Then finally a hilly run to Queenstown round the back of the Shotover River (very Lord of the Rings territory this), through Arthur's Point and down into Queenstown. The Top 10 Camping was full but they had space at the Kiwi Holiday Park. This is a fairly sad place - more like a car park than a campsite, with little space per site and no decent landscaping (e.g.. trees). They charged us $20 each to camp and then they have the nerve to charge $2 to have a shower. I think they've won the 'Meanest Campsite' award of our travels. Queenstown is devoted to thrills in a rather brainless way, so perhaps the guests are not up to noticing the ripoffs. We can't decide whether it is to be tandem skydiving, parasailing, jetboating, whitewater rafting or simply a nice scenic heli flight with a landing on a couple of snow fields. Ah, choices, choices. It makes an evening with Tristram Shandy (free ebook) seem like stunningly good value. I took a video of the landscape as we came down from the highest point on the Cardrona to Queenstown road.
From Wanaka Lakeview Campground (Kiwi Holiday Parks) to Queenstown Lakeview Campground (Kiwi Holiday Parks) - pretty much exactly 50 miles or 80kms. We took the Cardrona road which goes up over the highest paved road in NZ. Cardrona was reached in time for a leisurely lunch and is famous for the 'Gin and the Raspberry' phrase - shouted on discovery of a gold nugget and later turned into a folk song (as sung notably by Damien Barber). Cardrona is also a name that turns up, with gold mining related themes, in other songs. Tourists are odd creatures. No one visited the heritage site while we were there though one person took a photo without leaving their campervan and anothr got his wife to read out the information board, without either leaving their vehicle, but started driving away as she was reading.The valley is gentle up to Cardrona but then gets steeper - and the last bit up to a bit over 1000m above see level is around 1 in 6 for a fair km or two. At the top we met Steve and Carol. We took photos, even got an american tourist to take photos of the four of us, plus photos of various of us heading off downhill towards Queenstown.The ride down was fun, superb views so I took some video footage of the mountains, and a cyclist.Then we diverted into Arrowtown, a quaint place but evidently, as Queenstown, a real estate boom was on (half a million dollars for a smallish log cabin style plot?). We viited, with Carol and Steve, the Arrowtown Brewery, which is basically a bar with some stainless steel vats behind. The Schist Stout was excellent. Sadly no bottles available to keep for this evening.Then finally a hilly run to Queenstown round the back of the Shotover River (very Lord of the Rings territory this), through Arthur's Point and down into Queenstown. The Top 10 Camping was full but they had space at the Kiwi Holiday Park. This is a fairly sad place - more like a car park than a campsite, with little space per site and no decent landscaping (e.g.. trees). They charged us $20 each to camp and then they have the nerve to charge $2 to have a shower. I think they've won the 'Meanest Campsite' award of our travels. Queenstown is devoted to thrills in a rather brainless way, so perhaps the guests are not up to noticing the ripoffs. We can't decide whether it is to be tandem skydiving, parasailing, jetboating, whitewater rafting or simply a nice scenic heli flight with a landing on a couple of snow fields. Ah, choices, choices. It makes an evening with Tristram Shandy (free ebook) seem like stunningly good value. I took a video of the landscape as we came down from the highest point on the Cardrona to Queenstown road.