Day 11

Today was another day of driving through the scenic countryside of New Zealand, ultimately arriving in Queenstown tonight. Again, it is hard to describe the landscape of this island nation, as it seems as if the views get more dramatic with every mile.

Our first stop was a small town by the name of Omarama which means The Place of light. They say that because of the way this city sits between the mountains when the moon is full you can read a newspaper at midnight. We stopped for lunch, and Mary finally found a Woolen Sweater she like made there in New Zealand. Expensive stop 🙂

After Omarama we were off to Gibbston Winery, one of the oldest in NZ. We had a short tour of the vineyards where they explained a little about the vines and grapes the grew, mainly Pinot Noir but they do also have a couple other varieties. After the vineyards it was off to the first wine cave in NZ where we saw barrels fermenting and a closed area with rare wines they have made over the years. They are not a huge producer so most of their wine is sold in either NZ or Australia. I asked about shipping to the US, and they quoted me $255.00 a case………plus the cost of the wine!!! Oh, we did taste 3 of their more popular wines which were very good.

After the winery it was off to another small town, Arrowtown, named for the Arrow River that runs through the town. This town was part of the Gold Rush in the late 1800’s, and a section of the town still remains as it did at that time. A brief stop to walk around visit a few stops and then back on the bus for the 30 minutes or so to Queenstown.

We arrived at our Hotel, The Novotel Lakeside, and after a quick turnaround back on the bus for a quick jaunt to the gondola that would take us the 1500′ up to our restaurant, Skyline (really), but because of the great view of Lake Wakatipu. After dinner we saw a short 30 minute performance by the Maori, the original people to settle NZ, and their famous Kiwi Haka dance, now being used by several sports teams.

Queenstown was originally founded as an 1860’s gold mining camp. Nestled on the shores of beautiful Lake Wakatipu, it is surrounded by the Remarkables mountain range. Queens town is know for it’s Extreme Sports, including bungee jumping, paragliding, Jet Boats, and much more. As Mary and I walked through the little town square by our hotel, it seems as if every other store was involved in sporting goods or sports related clothing.

Tomorrow we head to the Milford Sound, another long day.