152: Winter in Queenstown
The 1st of June marked the beginning of Winter down here in New Zealand, just the right time to arrive in Queenstown which has a distinct Ski Resort feeling to it.
Sure enough temperatures dropped a few more degrees a few days ago but there have been suprisingly many sunny days the last week or so. Someone must have heard my complaints about the amount of rain 😉 Or maybe it’s just that on the West Coast of the South Island the weather is often quite sunny around this time of the year (some Kiwis said so anyway).
Still the country is beautiful as ever though it has changed quite a bit from a few weeks ago.
Plenty of Mountains with patches of snow on top on this side of the Island. Treelines are very distinct and clearly visible as many of the mountains are cuvered in thick forest up to about 1000m and then they suddenly stop. Not even bushes grow above..
Morning frost lasts quite a while and lookes lovely in the morning sun. Plenty of patchy mist too but where clear the air is even crisper than before. When sun is out it’s still quite warm unless at high altitude or on windy coastal areas.
I arrived in Queenstown last night after a nice detour to Lake Mavola and Walter Peak Station which is on the opposite side of Lake Wakatipu, facing Queenstown. The road was a dead-end road which essentially doubled the distance travelled from Te Anau to Queenstown but it was well worth it for the scenery or forests, lakes, mountains and valleys.
Lake Mavola is surrounded by a lovely forest of silverbirch (i think) which are fairly thin trees. There is lots of moss on the ground and walking through the forest was like walking on sponges even where the regular path was 🙂 Found a Swingbridge averthe lake which was fun to walk across, rather bouncy and wobbly;-)
Further along the lake the landscape changed to grassy plains (beige/brown now due to the season followed by a thick evergreen forest (and a very muddy track;-).
The route to Walter Peak Station took me through valleys along the Eyre Mountain Range. At the (former Sheep) Station (I think) which was just a landing spot for a Steam boat operating from Queenstown these days I had a lovely view of The Remarkables and Coronet Peak Mountain plus a bunch of others. Seriously impressive views with low clouds covering the mountain tops and sun breaking through gaps to shine on Lake Wakatipu and the lower part of the mountains.
After Walter Peak I had to drive back about 120km to the main route to Queenstown but approaching sunset made it a pleasant drive despite having to drive along the same route as I came.
At some point while on route to Queenstown I was listening to a collection of old jazz songs. While listening to a rather good tune called Lazybones (by Ted Lewis, 1933) I passed a little settlement. Much to my surprise I did notice a large sign on the road advertising a cafe or restaurant of some sort. The place was called “LAZYBONES” and had the drawing of a 1930’s style farm worker “lazying in the sun” just as the song described 😀 What are the chances of such coincidents I wonder.
Maybe someone is trying to tell me something? 😉
I reached Queenstown eventually after dark.
Tags: New Zealand, RTW 2005/2006, South Island
saschas
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