21/08/25 Rivers and lakes

The day started with an epic journey of a 1 minute drive across the bridge and down to the Shotover River. One of Louie's things to do was a ride on the Shotover Jet. Something I happily declined due to the freezing water and being a big wimp. 

This is the massive mountain behind the place we are staying in. Good thing there is no earthquake risk here.

Before a adrenaline filled river jetboat ride, what better than a cheesy pizza. The Canyon Brewing Company next to the Shotover Jet has a bit of a monopoly on food here, but they were very good. At $32 each you'd hope they would be. The pesto on mine was a surprise, and not an entirely welcome one.

The range of clothing on the passengers was wide, from Arctic Winter to Summer's day. The Brazilian blood isn't meant for such conditions.

After 20 minutes of them going up and down the river, viewing the official photos and deciding mine were much better we headed off on a road trip to Glenorchy. Along the way was Bob's Cove. No idea who Bob was but his cove was at the end of a long steep track through freezing cold bush. Actually an awesome walk with glimpses of the scenery to come.

I have to say the weather has been amazing since Tuesday. Snow but no low cloud and then perfect still cloudless days. Makes the scenery here so more. I can see why people find it so appealing. 

After trudging back up the 20 climb to the car we headed off again and came on another lookout. So off we went again, this time the 20 minute climb was on the way there. Well rewarded with breathtaking views. Of course the views were accompanied by the most horrific of people (no, not the French this time), tourist families. This particular version was some chore of a woman wearing a linoleum jacket constantly organising and directing everyone in their group at the top of her voice. Every photo needed to have a specific set of family members placed in specific positions. A few of the kids definitely were looking longingly at the vast drop to the water below. I'd gladly save them the effort by hefting the bellowing hag over the railing myself, but it was time to move onto the next stop

We stopped in to Mrs Woolly's General Store for tea and cakes. As is tradition in New Zealand past 4pm meant the hot water was off, so we had to settle for cakes. As it happens they have the best cakes we have had in a long time. I had a carrot cake that compares to my Mum's, and Louie had a chocolate cake that he enjoyed so much he immediately bought another for later on. He's quite particular about the things he likes so this is a "big thing".

I got to feed sparrows pumpkin seeds from my hand which was an unexpected wildlife encounter!

One of my bucket list photos has been sorted. It's a bit of a cliche but I'm happy. The shore of Glenorchy is weirdly rusty, probably a good reason for it but nothing I could see.

Anything thing I couldn't see - the aforementioned family arrived but was absent the mother. They all seemed a lot more relaxed. Was she elsewhere enjoying the scenery or perhaps had become a permanent part of it? Who could tell, but I certainly enjoyed the quiet.

We tried to get bookings in a few restaurants without luck and ended up at the place we had breakfast on the first day here. They did a high-end menu for dinner, but found out the high end was the prices rather the portion size. Lamb croquettes - two for $18. I assume they had cocaine in them for that price but I must be immune to the effects.

Steak, polenta and carrots - fairly straightforward. The mustard sauce with a creme brulee style brown sugar topping was a little unusual. Very delicious.

Finally - when you find something you enjoy, in this case Mrs Fergs gelato. White chocolate & raspberry and some Italian name for chocolate chip. Probably the best I've had.

A million times better than their burgers.

20/08/25 Shiny rocks

Yes, the blogs are getting later and later. Normal for me, compounded by the fact I'm writing them on my phone which is a massive pain. Mostly in my thumbs.

Quick breakfast at Gantley's Tavern again, this time I parked in their carpark and avoided the parking police. I didn't avoid the massive puddle in the driveway though so looks like I'll be cleaning the car before returning it on Saturday.

The area is still epic with snow and mountains, the graphics are definitely better than in the North Island. 

We were off for a day trip to Cromwell with stops along the way, mostly because there's fuck all to see in Cromwell other than large fruits and a lake.

First stop was the original AJ Hackett's Bungy jump bridge which was surprisingly busy given the almost freezing temperatures. Unsurprisingly the couple of jumpers we saw didn't do the dunking in the river option.

Louie passed on the jump but went for the swing / flying fox thing. It was over very quickly, and for the price of $50 for a 20 seconds ride, it worked out as $9000 per hour. Far less value than what you'd get down a quiet alley in Queenstown and without the happy ending. Yep, they screwed him. Avoid.

This is the Roaring Meg. I don't know if the river, the rapids or the power station is Meg but it was more of a hissing than a roar.

The rivers around here are all that wonderful blue tint from the glaciers, this one is the Kawarau River, fed from Lake Wakatipu and the Shotover River. 

Here's a rapid and a not very rapid due to the cold and many layers.

The next stop was the Goldfields Mining Centre, a DOC site with a pretty slight bridge connecting it to the carpark. Adventure tourism! 

We paid our money for the historical gold tour much to the excitement of the anorak boring the ear off the poor lady behind the counter and received our pamphlet map.

Bit of a have to start with, the first part is a 30 minute self guided tour around various bits of hillside. From the photo you pretty much get the same amount of information we got. There was one sign about a sluce fandangle thing then 45 minutes of hard slog up the side of a mountain with some pretty basic signs.

About half way to the summit was an authentic Chinese miners village. As it turns out it was an authentic set for a movie back in the 90's based on the Chinese miners, but it looked authentic.

This did not please me. Such a weird condition to have the front half of you freezing and the back very hot and sweaty. I am very proud that I neither fell down the mountain path or had crippling muscle strains the next day. 

It was a great walk, views over the small valley but not a lot of things to see along the top path. Here is a cave with a grille over the front and a button that says push to turn on the light. It didn't turn on. We later found out these were dug to see if there was gold in the rock.

After we finally completed the walk and came down from the mountains significantly later that the advertised 30 minute mark, the anorak met us in the bank. We then sat through a long story of gold, some related history and a fair amount of unrelated history about his past in Cromwell and Dunedin. He also had a couple of gold "samples" that you could see the gold paint wearing off. Keep in mind it was just Louie and I so it was a very challenging conversation sharing the load of making eye contact and trying to look interested. The guy at the Tucson museum of the desert talking about the history of cochineal was far more unsettling, but at least there I had military jets going overhead to keep me interested.

After we escaped the "history" lecture we were joined by a couple from Brisbane who managed to escape the 90 minute preamble and jumped straight into the good stuff. I think I'd be happy to pay the entrance fee just so I didn't need to do the history section. 

We then got a lengthy lesson on how to pan for gold, and the guide finally buggered off so we could give it a go. Here you can see the results of my efforts.

Yep, fuck all other than fools gold and mud.

After a short drive we got to Cromwell. They have a historic district with some lovely period buildings and very few people. Definitely the slow season.

The Clyde dam has made a very nice waterfront at the cost of parts of the town, but a cost I'm happy with to give me some nice photos. 

The one place that was open was right at the end and a neat bar. The one staff member was sitting out the front on the bank enjoying the sun, and after serving us she went back outside. I had an almost overwhelming desire to gob the beer tap but Louie said no.

City centre Cromwell features an impressive waterfall and river. Actually was a lot nicer than most (all) other NZ town centres. There's almost no graffiti and tagging here!

Excluding wanky pretentious and / or insanely expensive restaurants got us into a Mexican place called Amigos that seems to have a series of locations through Otago. Definitely was well above the level of the other chain Mexican places.

I had a Colorado Chili that really wasn't and Louie had some tacos. Aside from the disinterested service I'd recommend.

The seething nightlife of Cromwell.

Back into Queenstown we stopped in at Patagonia for dessert with a banana sundae.

And to wrap up we bought chocolate bars.

During our after dessert wander about we came across the Queenstown Sky City which did not impress. They could at least pretend to be upmarket while taking your money. 1980's Hastings DEKA had more class and style.

Finally back home, and what we thought was some sort of X-Files UAP experiment turned out to be the night ski at Coronet Peak.