New Zealand V: Waterworks to Queenstown

Jan 7, 2011

We woke with hope that the rain had stopped, the clouds departed and the Franz Josef glacier was towering visibly in the sky. To our disappointment we looked out the window to find that the rain was coming down harder, the clouds had merged into one massive white blanket over the sky and the glacier was no where to be found. Not even superman, with his x-ray vision, could see the old Franz on a day like today. Not ones to stand around in the rain staring at nothing, we packed up the car and said "sayonara" to the glacier (and our hopes of seeing it).

The "glacier" the next morning

We continued down the island, driving along and between Lake Wanaka and Lake Hawea. Lake Wanaka is the fourth largest lake in New Zealand, and is supposedly beautiful. It was hard for us to tell due to the unfavorable cloud coverage. I couldn't distinguish where the clouds stopped and the water started; it was all just a big blur of grey-blue blah. Based on what we could see, I can imagine that the Lake Wanaka landscape is gorgeous on a clear, sunny day with the sun rays glistening off the water and the mountain range in the background. 

* Side note: these were the only 2 days on the entire trip that the weather was bad. Every other day we were blessed with perfect weather for which I am extremely grateful. 

Lake Wanaka on a cloudy day

We stopped in the town of Lake Wanaka (it gets confusing because they name their towns the same as their landmarks) for lunch and strolled around its quaint streets. Amusing to me was the sidewalk-timeline that contained random tid-bits of information about things you never knew you wanted to know. Take, for example, the two tiles shown below. Did you know that the first dictionary was released in 1755. Or even more importantly that Mayonnaise was invented in France in 1756? Well now you know. 

After lunch, we continued onwards to Queenstown, one of New Zealand's more known cities. One of the cool side effects of the rain was that it resulted in water falling sporadically from the mountaintops that lined the roadway. These temporary waterfalls were really cool to see, and not something we would have on a sunny day. So in this regard, the rain was a welcome blessing. 

There were tons of these along the road.

All of which flowed into this raging river on our other side.  

This one was the biggest of them all (and I think prob there rain or shine). See how they've constructed the roads so that the water can fall under it? Pretty neat. 

This is that same fall coming out the other side. It's a long way down! Glad we didn't have any men overboard.

By the time we approached Queenstown the rain had finally let up and the sky began to clear. The scenery surrounding Queenstown was absolutely stunning. I think it was the most beautiful place we saw in all of New Zealand, which is impressive considering every place we saw was abnormally beautiful. Ugly doesn't exist in New Zealand. But I can tell you that beauty oozes out of Queenstown's mountains, land, trees and lakes. I'll just shut up and let you see for yourself.

I like these plants- they look like they're on fire. 

Entering Frankton, another gorgeous place right before Queenstown

Pathway leading into Queenstown. How would you like to go for a walk there every day?

Laura and I ventured into the heart of the town to explore and get dinner. As you may know, Queenstown is the adventure capital of New Zealand and all along the streets were shops to go skydiving, bungee jumping, kayaking, white water rafting, etc. You name it they had a place to do it. They even had a Lord of the Rings tour and shop. Which is how we came to find our dinner destination because the kind gal working there (obviously we went in) suggested we try a pizza place down the road called Winnies.Good suggestion.Unlike most "towns" in New Zealand, this one was actually made up of multiple streets, which in addition to the activity-shops had numerous restaurants, stores and bars. My favorite was the fudge shop where we picked up some Hokey Pokey (a honey/butterfinger flavor) and Kiwi Chocolate fudge. Oh yea. They were amazing.  Queenstown was amazing. I think it would be my ideal place to live were it not for the fact that it is a ski town. You know what that means- come winter it's going to be cold and snowy. If your idea of a perfect day is spending it on the slopes, then this is the place for you. But mine is spending the day on the beach (hence why I went to Australia), so Queenstown just barely misses being the place of my dreams. Blowup the mountains and lay down some sand and then we'll be in business. This is probably good news, however, because had I fallen head-over-heels in love with Queenstown I may have never come back. New Zealand offers working holiday Visas to Americans for two whole years. 

Queenstown

The walk into town.