South Island Holiday October 2012: Central Otago

Well we have today arrived back from our holiday in the South Island. It was truly a Kiwi holiday in that we drove... a lot. We saw Otago, Central Otago, Fiordland and Southland, all places neither of us had seen before (much; me nothing, but Adrian had been once to Queenstown and once to Fiordland on a Scout Jamboree!).

We arrived in Dunedin on the afternoon of Monday the 15th October. We picked up our rental car and drove straight to Naseby, our first stop for the night. The drive was beautiful, through mountain ranges with fresh spring snow on them. We don't have mountains like this in the North Island! We were instantly impressed with Central Otago.

Naseby:

Stunning views of spring snowfall

Naseby was very quiet and sleepy but we had a nice sleep and excellent breakfast at the Black Forest Cafe the next morning. Naseby is the only place in the Southern Hemisphere to have a curling rink!

Onwards to St Bathans to see the Blue Lake:

This adorable little man was on the side of the road so we stopped and I picked him up and put him back in the paddock, where he started calling for his mum. I hope she found him! NB: If there is an animal to represent this particular holiday, it has to be the lamb. Closely contested by the penguin!

The Blue Lake at St Bathans (population 6 + 1 dog). This was formed when the gold-diggers sluiced the white rocks for gold.

Next was Cromwell via the Clyde Dam. At the Wooing Tree Vineyard we had a lovely cheese platter from (and a glass of Blondie wine, which they call their 'champagne without bubbles'. It was delicious.) The Wooing Tree Vineyard is so named for the large macrocarpa amongst the vines, which has been a site for 'romance' since the days before the vines' planting.

The 'old town' of Cromwell, which was relocated and reassembled after the township was flooded for the Clyde Dam project.

Wooing Tree Vineyard with said tree.

Next stop was Wanaka for a visit to Puzzling World and a quick photo of the lake (it was getting late), before continuing over the mountains to Queenstown.

Driving to Queenstown

We checked into our hotel - we got a fabulous deal on the internet at the Distinction Nugget Point which included two nights accommodation, a three-course meal for two, all day use of the spa/sauna/steam room/warm pool, and breakfasts on both days. Tonight we had the three-course meal, though it continued my experience of hotel restaurants being a little less grand than their premises always suggest. I had the venison and it was cooked too much, but even still it was nice. Adrian had the salmon and was unimpressed. Adrian had the chocolate mousse cake for dessert which was very good and for now I cannot remember what I had... so it must not have been that impressive! But it was a nice enough meal (especially for the deal we got) and we had a beautiful seat overlooking Nugget Point (where a large gold nugget was found at the beginning of the Gold Rush) and a view of the setting sun over the mountains.

We had coffee in Queenstown the next morning and quickly realised it was not our kind of place so took a drive out to Arrowtown (via Coronet Peak).

Adrian at the top of Coronet Peak. Ski-fields had just closed for the season so was very quiet!

Adrian near the Chinese village in Arrowtown.

Arrowtown was very cute and we had a lovely lunch (you guessed it... cheese!) at Bonjour French cafe there. We also had a quick look at the Chinese Village, where Chinese gold prospectors came and made their own little settlement. After another enjoying spa visit and a glass of wine we headed out for another drive to Glenorchy at the north end of Lake Wakatipu. The drive was beautiful and Glenorchy itself was very small (and cold).

Glenorchy

Driving past Queenstown to get there, we saw a whole lot of steam engines starting up. Not sure why, but it may have been something to do with the centenary of TSS Earnslaw which was happening while we were down there.

Later on we visited the Cookie Time shop and bought a Cookie Muncher! And of course some cookies. After that we had a nice dinner at The Bunker, which we also got a really good voucher for on the Internet.

So that was Central Otago! Next we were on to Fiordland.