New Zealand No.2

Wanaka, Queenstown, Gore, Dunedin. Posted 26.4.26

Wanaka. 

What a lovely place Wanaka is, big houses, trendy shops, great cafes. Noosa at the snowfields. The town was packed, last weekend of the school holidays. As it was cold and damp, everyone in town congregated in the cafes or the heated shops. The autumn yellows of the poplars against the blue lake and snowcapped mountains were picture postcard images.

We parked in the holiday park close to town. We could see the lake and the snow capped mountains from our site. Kids still ran around in shorts, screamed loudly on the bouncy trampoline and talked to each other on walky-talkies as they zoomed about on bikes. On the second morning, I lay snuggly in bed and watched the snow falling on the nearby hill. What a treat!  A local told Nick it was very unusual in May to see snow…it was April! He also said “snow fall in May never stays” is a local belief. But for us it was picture perfect. 

I noticed there was a Toy and Vehicle Museum not far from Wanaka on the road to Queenstown. Grabbing my umbrella, we entered an Aladdin’s Cave for small children & car-addicts. Not just cars though, there were tanks, planes, heavy earth moving machinery, a huge number of old fire engines and row upon row of old cars. There were 4 monstrous sheds to go through. The toy display was equally impressive. Maybe some of the pictures will tell the story. We spent a couple of hours there despite there being only a couple of Land Rovers. We then drove about 10km down the road to Luggate for coffee; the lady serving coffee asked if we’d enjoyed the museum. She said she can’t recall how many times she took her son when he was young – he’s probably a hoarder now.

Drove onwards towards Queenstown, decided to call into Arrowtown. Here we were with our 7.2m long campervan, winding down narrow streets with cars parked either side and people & kids streaming along the road towards the centre of this historic town. We never got past the temporary gate and still have no idea what was happening. Luckily we escaped without side swiping any vehicles or removing their rear view mirrors. Sad to have missed spending time there.

Queenstown. What a lovely town, as trendy as Wanaka, much bigger and located on Lake Wakatipu. Here the snow season hadn’t begun but all the adventure activities were in full swing. It was still raining and very cold but we decided to take a slow cruise on the lake in the old TSS Earnslaw, a Twin Screw Steamer. Her maidan voyage was in 1912, with an initial passenger capacity of 1,035. She was affectionately called the “Lady of the Lake”.

We loved the trip, Nick was fascinated by the internal workings of the motors. We had a calm trip, just a bit crowded by holiday makers originating from Asia. The captain berthed the boat at Walter Peak High Country Farm, then announced that all those who’d paid for lunch and the cruise would disembark here at the charming early colonial restaurant at the edge of the lake. To our surprise, 99% of the aforementioned got off, then followed their guide with the blue flag and went to lunch. So our return cruise to Queenstown was peaceful, and definitely warranted a shared pastrami sandwich and a glass of wine.

After the cruise, the weather was marginally warming up so we walked around the Botanic gardens admiring more massive trees. A beer in an Irish bar with the wood fire warming all the patrons was a good choice before walking back to the van.

Night times were very cold, heavy rain drenched the ground around the van. Heavy fog filled the valley in the morning. We were keen to have a fine day for our last in Queenstown. We had booked a fly/cruise/fly package to Milford Sound out of Queenstown on the Monday. One hour before we were due to fly, we got a message cancelling the trip due to the anticipated inclement weather later in the day. We were both pretty disappointed. I guess we’ll just have to return someday. The flight company said they’d been grounded for the past 5 days.

So plan B for the day. Off we headed towards the east coast. The Remarkables live up to their name. This snow covered range dominates views towards the north of Lake Wakatipu. We took route 6 south along the Lake which by now was choppy from the wind springing up.

The country was flattening out a bit, sheep were everywhere. We chose not to visit Invercargil, save that for summer time. From Lumsden we headed to Gore. On my camping App it said there were 2 free camp sites. One was closed for good, the other was in the rundown showgrounds. Not sure what to do next, we decided to visit the visitor information centre, which was also a museum and distillery. Great choice. The girl told us about a great camp ground just out of Gore. Also, we loved the museum which was all about the Prohibition of the early 1900’s, the settlement of the Scottish there after the Highland Clearances and their making of “Hokonui” or hooch as we know it. The end of the museum tour was a tasting of Hokonui, more accurately fire water, which we both did. I have a small bottle to bring home for any game visitors!

The camp at Dolamore near Gore was perfect. In the forest, almost no others there, silent at night.

My lasting thoughts about this trip so far….there are sooo many sheep and cows here and they graze on grass that looks like a bowling green or golf course. There are hedges everywhere, never have I seen an industry like it, especially when you include the job of trimming the hedges laser straight. Someone, years ago, must have proved that hedges increased production on farms, because the sheep are very happily munching their golf course green tucked in behind towering hedges. Windbreaks are not necessarily cypress pines, there are eucalypts and poplars, sometimes pampas grass or even the dreaded gorse. I feel sad that there is not an easy way to see the original forest, that early settlers cleared so much of it, except the mountains I suppose. My next aim is to see a Manuka tree, seeing as their honey is famous from here.

That’s it for now. I’m writing this from Nelson. We’ve done lots of lovely things since Gore, and remarkably….the sun is shining, blue sky all day, calm seas. Idyllic. I’ve found Manuka and seen original forests.

Jen & Nick xx