26th Feb - Queenstown

When we woke up this morning the rain was coming down heavily - so we had a good laugh at the expense of all the tent dwellers wringing the water out of everything they own and eating their breakfast standing up in full oilskins. Why do people do this - especially in a country like this where the rain is savage? I cannot comprehend it.


We left at about 11 O'Clock heading for Queenstown. We stopped off for lunch at an average sort of lay by - as you might find anywhere on a main road. (See below) 

Rick had a go at fishing in Lake Dunstan but the trout were being shy. We stopped off at Arrowtown which is an historic mining village from the gold rush days in the 1860s. No doubt this was a sleepy place until a few years ago but it has now been extensively 'got up' for the tourists. 

This is a mixed blessing in that much that was disintegrating has been restored but now it comes across almost like Main Street in Disney World - though of course it's the real thing. 


Then we headed down into Queenstown which has also been extensively developed and is now the centre of the 'adventure pursuits' industry. For all this, a better natural setting would be hard to imagine. We have settled in a campsite on the shore of Lake Wakatipu. 

As we drove through the town it was a beautiful sunny afternoon and, being a Sunday, there were many people on the beaches. But there was NOBODY in the water - not one. We could only conclude that this is because the lake is glacial and too cold to swim in. But when we arrived here it just looked too good so Rick and I swam in it anyway (Mum will be proud of us) and it was seriously glacial - but it had to be done!