Enroute to Queenstown

Our journey to Queenstown began with a visit to  the Te Auna Bird Sanctuary (another of Kristen’s surprises). Punanga Manu o Te Anau is the Maori name.  We arrived just before feeding time. The rangers explained about the different birds and then we watched them as they were fed. Here they have local species of birds.  The takahe are the stars of the sanctuary.  They are big blue flightless birds that have been brought back from near extinction. We also saw kaka, colorful parrots; kereru, wood pigeons; and the crested grebe, among others.

After this stop, we continued on to Queenstown. The highway paralleled Lake Wakatipu, a narrow lake that zigzags through the mountains. We passed deer farms where they raised Red Deer for the German venison market.  The town of Mossburn  proclaims itself to be the “Deer Capital of New Zealand.”  There is a large statue of a stag in the middle of the town.  We stopped for coffee at the Dome Café.  Next we stopped at Gibbston Valley Winery for a lovely lunch.  It was to be followed by a tour of the winery, but we were running late, so Kirsten booked a later time for the tour and we went to the famous Kawarau Bungy Jump Bridge. There we watched as one young woman tried to go off for several minutes, backed away, came back, then refused.  It costs $200 to jump, and if you don’t, you don’t get a refund.  After her try another couple jumped together and landed in the water where they were picked up by a boat.  None of us opted to jump.  After this diversion, we returned to the winery for our tour and wine tasting.  In this part of the south island, they grow the pinot grape so the best wines are the Pinot Noir and Pinot Grigio.  We continued motoring north along the Kawarau River.

The next stop on our trip to Queenstown was Arrowtown, a gold mining town with an historic Chinese settlement.  We walked through the remains of the settlement to see some of the original buildings and artifacts.  It also has historic buildings from the gold rush days.  It was founded in 1862 and is located on the Arrow river, hence the name.  The Chinese came in the 1860s by 1876 there were 4000 of them and by 1881, 5004.  They mined land the Europeans and discarded.  They suffered discrimination until modern times.  In 2002 New Zealand formally apologized to them. Arrowtown was also the place to look for greenstone (jade), paua shells, and sheep skin slippers.  

We continued on Route 6 north to Queenstown.  This is a very scenic route along the west coast of the island.  We stopped at the Devil’s Staircase for some pictures.  This is a very twisty part of the highway at the foot of the Remarkables and Hector Mountains overlooking Lake Wakatipu. We continued through Athol and Frankton to Queenstown and the Hilton where we stayed.