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.

19/08/25 Snow and buffets

This morning stated off a lot colder and with strange white stuff all over the hills. This is what we've been waiting for. Of course this is also the morning the hot water ran out and cuased me to scream and weep like a small child. 

First stop was a ride up the Gondola to the Skyline. We had 3 luge rides and a lunch booked with a set timetable so of course the first thing we did was have breakfast. 

After One World Trade Centre this is probably the second best breakfast view so far.

There's a big construction project going on here and getting to the luges involved going up and down some suspiciously loose scaffolding and walkways. We are definitely hitting our steps this week.

I have never felt so hot and cold at the same time. Stupid exercise. Doing it while it's snowing is a bit of a novelty which I doubt could ever wear thin.

Nob. But very warm. Absolutely no dignity was left after getting into and out of the luge. I managed to get out without having to roll about on all fours or collapse a knee, but I imagine it was a absurd spectacle.

The luge was fun, the first run was quite slow and hesitant. The brakes weren't very brakey, more of a vague suggestion. Using people in front of me was far more effective, for me at least. Them, they got to go faster again. Despite the wet and slippery track, the things grip well. In reality I was probably going about walking pace but when you're 2cm off the ground it seems a lot faster.

Also snow hurts when you're racing bare faced into it. About 10 seconds is how long for the novelty to wear off.

All the fart-arseing about meant we only had time for one ride before our lunch slot so we hiked all the way back up and over to the main building. It pains me to look at this again, knowing the effort it took, nearly going arse over tit up some stairs because we realised later that there was a much easier and obvious way to get back. I've also just noticed Louie in the distance leaving me far behind. I'll tuck that one away in the revenge bank...

Lunch was accompanied by an amazing view over Queenstown and the Remarkable range. No need for conversation, just loads of looking out the window between gorging ourselves on plate after plate of food.

I kind of forgot to take photos of everything but dessert. The mini pavlova was amazing.

After lunch we relaxed for an hour next to a huge window looking over Lake Wakatipu and listening to the Australian group behind us (where I learned a new twist on an old phrase "you can't polish a turd, but you can throw glitter on it". That's going to get used)

We had two more luge rides so back we went. This time the pace was a hell of a lot faster, much less braking and a lot more fun. Once was kind of enough for me, three times wasn't enough. Should have bought the 9 ride ticket.

It was here we realised our mistake earlier and instead of walking from the end of the rise up to the building, just take the chair lift thing to the top and walk down. Our genius knows no bounds.

Pretty much straight from the return Gondola ride we headed to the boat for the cruise over to Walter Peak farm. The Earnslaw is usually used but it's a bit rooted at the moment so we took a detour to see it. This had a plesant personal touch to it, seeing it up on sticks and broken. This damn boat's whistle scared the piss out of me when I was 3 so justice has been served. 

The trip over Lake Wakatipu at sunset was so beautiful, made all the more so with the snow covering the peaks. The Walter Peak farm seems to be a fine tuned tourist outlet, we were hearded off the boat into the dining room, fed and watered, mustered to the pens for a dog show (no theme music dammit), through the gift store and back onto the boat in a tidy 2 hour operation. The gift store was an unexpected comedy routine, mostly at our expense because they were having a laugh at the prices. 

Second buffet of the day, euphemistically titled "Real NZ". I'm pretty sure real New Zealanders aren't having high country lamb cooked by a chef over open coals to a perfect temperature. It were right tasty though.

Most of our fellow diners. Mercifully free of the French, but there were some Australians. They'll let anyone on these days. 

Queenstown by night.

The arena of sheep and dogs. A great setup and the Welsh boyo Owain doing the show had the banter going. Too many kids present for there to be any sheep shagging jokes, but with the Australian, NZ and Welsh contingents it was like a standoff waiting for the first one to flinch. 

Gareth admitted he is a dairy farmer so his shearing skills are limited but he did an alright job. I remember the demonstrations I saw as a child usually resulted in a good cut or two the the poor beast, but the model tonight came away intact.

Finally Rhys turned on the back paddock lights and let loose the sheepdog Echo (because you have to call her twice).

It took a minute for her to round up the four sheep, but everyone was suitably impressed with her skill at getting the sheep back and forth, down the hill and into the pen. It wasn't always what Gwyn was directing but probably what needed to be done.

And that ended a bloody fantastic day, loads of amazing food, sights and experiences. Finished off with a cruise back to Queenstown with the unexplained presence of a glittery stage, disconnected dance lights and two drag queens sitting off to the side watching Family Feud on a phone with the volume turned up. This was the same boat we came across on and none of it was there when we left! One of life's unexplained mysteries.