Queenstown Lakes in Autumn

Catch-up

We headed off to Queenstown on Easter Monday both looking forward to seeing David's daughter (who we haven't seen in a year or so) and her partner when they arrived off a plane from Australia, the next day. Our Winton family also drove through for a couple of days of family time too.

We stopped at a very busy Cromwell dump station on our way out of town and then made our way back to the main road, past the autumnal looking Bannockburn vineyards.

The road through the Kawarau Gorge is also known as 'The Golden Highway' due to its gold mining history but at this time of the year, it also reflects the beautiful colours of the poplars and willows that contrast against the stark grey rock faces and brilliant blue of the river that flows through the gorge.

We stopped at Lake Hayes for lunch, we've stayed here a couple of times but for this visit we're heading to a campground so we can chill and relax without the worry of having to park in the allocated space and move after two nights.

It was a brilliant blue sky sunny day with just a slight chill, the cloud hund low around the Remarkables but dissipated soon after this photo was taken. Whenever we stop, I'm always out and shooting photos straight away. It's been proved too often that if I wait until after that cup of tea or lunch, the scene will change and the moment gone forever.

The next day I came back to Lake Hayes to get a few more photos of the autumn colours.

I also stopped at another little rest area half way along the lake where I'd seen a bright blob of brilliant yellow...

...and found not only the willows on the lakeside above but this beautiful setting below. With the lake's walking trail passing along the front of the property and the reserve on another side it's no wonder there were numerous signs telling people to 'Keep Out'. Unfortunately there are a few overseas tourists who have no idea of personal space (or couldn't read) and were clambering over the garden at the front of the house.

After lunch at Lake Hayes we moved on to our regular campground when we're not freedom camping, the Top10 at Arthurs Point, just above Skippers Canyon on the Shotover River. Queenstown campgrounds are always busy and I'd booked our usual site a few weeks ago, the one we can neatly slot into without too much hassle as all the sites are reasonably small and tight. 

'Yes, Mrs Evans you can have your preferred site #41, no, that's fine, no problems, we look forward to seeing you again' 

...except they forgot to tell me they've added a nice little toilet portacom over the clearway. 

With a little maneuvering David managed to park the van in perfectly but luckily we arrived early afternoon as it was chaos later when the rentals vans started arriving. As it was we had a guy drumming his fingers on the steering wheel of his rental as he waited to pass us to another site. Impatient bugger!

The camp have also put in a new dump station but unfortunately while the previous one was bad enough for access, there's no way we'd fit into this one. Luckily we'd done our business at Cromwell.

As the afternoon wore on, the rentals filed in...

...until there wasn't a site to spare...

Being able to back in off  the clearway is not the only reason we like our preferred site, this is the only site with a hedge on either side too, so it's great for privacy. Being tightly packed in like sardines is not our idea of camping but we've found out, that if we want to do a few things in Queenstown and/or are there for a few days and want to have no worries, this Top10 suits us fine. And actually when you're totally self-contained you can keep your own space or get involved as it suits. 

We weren't due at the airport until mid afternoon on Tuesday so I left David relaxing and went for a drive through to Arrowtown to check out the autumn colours.

Arrow River

The Arrowtown Autumn Festival was due to start the next day with the big finale on the weekend. 

We've attended the festival twice before and had we not been tied up with family this year, we'd have probably gone to this one too. Well, gone to the NZMCA rally associated with the Festival anyway, just to enjoy the camaraderie and to see Prue & Harry again (who organise the rally).

Although it doesn't look like it from here, the little town was full to overflowing with every spare space taken by cars, rental motorhomes and buses, many parked along the river bank below the main street, with dozens of people crowding the footpaths and shops and this wasn't even the Festival proper! 

Having seen it all several times before, I made a hasty retreat to the cenotaph above the town to take some scenic shots.

Once finished there, I headed for Lake Hayes (photos at the beginning of the blog) and then home stopping to take a photo of this stone cottage I'd spied as we passed a clearing yesterday.

Not for the first time this season, I've felt autumn wasn't quite firing on all cylinders. Yes, there was still lots of colour but many trees had already shed their leaves and other weren't colouring up before dropping theirs. I guess I've been spoilt having now experienced three Central Otago autumns.

The Shotover Jet & Autumn Colours

While waiting to move to the Autumn Festival Rally in Arrowtown we stayed at the Arthurs Point Top10 Holiday Park for a couple of days, it's a small compact and busy site where we've stayed a few times. Our friends Amanda & Paul are tucked into their favourite spot in the corner...well it's about the only spot they would fit in so it has to be their favourite...

...and here's us in our fav site too, where we just manage to get our nose off the road. This is an important point when most of the other campervans arriving are driven by foreign drivers- sometimes you've just got to close your eyes and hold your breath. Arthurs Point is just above the Shotover Gorge and handy to Queenstown and Coronet Peak, for skiing, in the winter.

I found a great way to make the most of doing the mundane chore of buying groceries; do a few photo stops on the way. Just below the holiday park is the historic Edith Cavell Bridge which crosses the Shotover River and links Arthurs Point to Queenstown.

Built between 1917-1919, the bridge is a “parabolic rib arch design” and is one of the most iconic sights of Queenstown.

The home base for a major tourist attraction, the Shotover Jet, is just upstream of the bridge; it's where the jet boats depart on their super fast, adrenaline fueled tours upstream and down. Loaded buses arrive every few minutes during the height of the season and every half an hour or so at other times packed with tourists collected from pick up points and various accommodation suppliers around Queenstown.

The following two photos were taken just 3 weeks apart, the 2nd one was shot just last week while we were waiting for the rain to stop before heading to Glenorchy. After 7 days of rain, you can see how much the river has risen. And also how quickly the autumn colours on the slope behind have disappeared.

April 20th, 2016

May 15th, 2016

Here's a sequence of photos from one of the many jet boat trips I watched while I was meant to be away getting the groceries.

Guests board the boat-

The jet boat roars off upstream-

Before turning around and racing back down to do a spin in front of the camera (photog standing on ladder on the jetty). Added value for the company and an added bonus for the punters! At $135 per adult, what's another few dollars to have a keepsake of your ride.

Interrupted to compare again- photo spin from the other day.

Back to April, the jet boat races downstream...

...and past me standing at the lookout. I love zooming in to see the expressions on their faces (click to enlarge the photo)

They pass under the bridge and weave their way through the Shotover Gorge, passing very close to the rock face and then a few minutes later re-appearing to do a couple of spins (in the gorge)...

...before roaring back past...

...cutting in close over the gravel in the shallows...

...and doing one final spin as they arrive back at the jetty. Those are super experienced skippers.

And here another one from the other day to compare again, he travelling over an area where there was bare gravel last month.

On this latest shoot I went downstream- across the bridge and up the other side where I'd seen a pull-off area behind a fence. I thought I might have been able to see where the river opens up again after the gorge. It was a big surprise to find myself right on the edge of a very steep drop-off down to the river below (with a fence in between) and that not only could I see downstream (and a boat returning)...

...but I could see the end of the gorge upstream too.

And just because they make me smile, here's two more close-ups. I could watch the jet boats and take photos all day....now there's an idea! I could be the official photog on the ladder. There's more added value here- the buffs some of them are wearing over their faces and heads.

I finally pulled myself away from the gorge and headed back past the camp ground and over towards Frankton, stopping more than once to take photos of the beautiful autumn colours. 

This one is looking back towards Arthurs Point with the lower Shotover River in the foreground. This is where the jet boats turn around before heading back through the gorge. 

I stopped at the historic Lower Shotover bridge where I knew there would be some lovely colours. Built in 1909 this former main highway bridge, now fully restored, is used as a pedestrian & cycle bridge.

Taken from the middle of the bridge, looking downstream towards the 'new' bridge with the Remarkables in the background.

And upstream into the sun...I should have stopped here again last week. I bet that rock island is now surrounded by water.

Lucky David isn't with me, he'd be rolling his eyes and making hurumph noises...

...as I took another side road so I could get close to the 'new' bridge...

...where I could see some lovely poplars across the way... 

Now, I'd better go and get those groceries.

Across Lindis Pass

Catch-up

It was time to break camp at Omarama and head off into the rat-race. Well, rat-race for the South Island anyway; that love it or hate it town, a town that is full of young people and adrenaline and runs on a high all year round, a town located in the most stunning and beautiful location. That town, Queenstown.

We had Christmas shopping to do and chores to complete before we headed to Mavora Lakes for a month and Queenstown is the only town on the way (I don't count Cromwell, you can't do any decent retail therapy there). Actually, Queenstown isn't that bad, it's just a full-on town overflowing with tourists and campervans and once one has visited it, the next visits are always done at high-speed so you can get out of there, or through there, as fast as possible (so don't ask why we're heading there again in a few days time!)

Anyway, we headed off over the Lindis Pass which, surprise, surprise, was lined with more lupins.

Approaching the summit and I think this is the first time we've come through when there's been no snow.

It would have been nice to have found a few places to stop to so I could take some more lupin photos (really?) but with 'Out There' on the back, a steady traffic flow of traffic (even though you can't see any vehicles in my photos- that's good timing) and a reluctant driver, I had to be content with shooting out the front window. 

We had trouble with a hire campervan in the Pass, the driver kept wanting to stop (in the middle of the road) to take photo of the flowers. There was nowhere to pull over, so he thought he'd just stop and click. He got the short shift from us at one stage but then did it again and again, hesitating whenever he spotted a small area he thought he might be able to pull into. In the end he got a big shift from a large truck that had to slam on it's brakes. For the rest of journey, and at a snails pace, he had a long line of vehicles trailing behind him and many frustrated motorists.

We even saw a small rental car parked (no people about) at the top of a slow-vehicle lane, actually in the lane itself with a truck fast approaching from behind, he had to take evasive action to avoid the rear end. We then spotted the people, back down the hill taking photos of a bridge and creek surrounded by lupins. It's no wonder there are so many accidents around tourist hot-spots.

I love the landscape through the Pass, it's not unlike the Crown Range, with scree slopes and rust coloured tussocks covering the mountains.

The lupins were spectacular alongside the road and tucked up the waterways or where there was any hint of moisture, probably more so than that back around Twizel and Tekapo. Although, that might have been because they had only just started flowering when we were back there. 

They were especially thick through the Lindis Valley beside the river.

Lindis Valley farmland, I'd love to see these willows during autumn.

Advertising from the paddock! It's great to see these Icebreaker signs on many of the sheep stations in the high country. It does make you think about where your thermals come from. Just wish they weren't so expensive though.

The Queenstown/Lakes Council is pretty strict with its freedom camping policy and readily enforces it with $200 fines and clamping of vehicles caught camping in non-designated areas. Which is good, even though it is a pain for us as most of the designated sites are too small for our rig. Plus we actually don't like parking in marked out carparks or areas that you have to vacate by 8am. We prefer to stay in a holiday park just for the convenience; to have our own site, be able to do our laundry, hooked up to the grid, and be handy to the shops; we can get our town chores done without too many worries.

Even if it does mean sharing the park with dozens of hire vans! Here we are at the Shotover Top10 Holiday Park at Arthurs Point.

My camera stayed in its bag most of the time we were in Queenstown, (I know, hard to believe) but I did take these two below with my smartphone-

Queenstown's 'Piano Man'- Mathias Lefenbvre, a Belgian who became world famous when a photo of him and a little girl won a National Geographic Travel Photo award.

And the world famous hamburger restaurant, Fergburger which serves gourmet 'as-big-as-your-head' burgers. It also has a queue of customers out through the doors and along the footpath at all hours of the day and night. So many people have approached the owner wanting to franchise Fergburger but he refuses to let go the reins (and the quality); he has a license to print money and he's quite happy with what he's got. He has also added a bakery and an icecream shop, but it's the burgers that attract the punters.