For those that have never flown into Queenstown, it is a difficult approach, descending through a number narrow valleys in the Southern Alps on a computer guided path that passes as close as 0.3 Nautical Miles (1800 feet) to terrain that rises as high as 6000 feet above the airfield.
Anyone familiar with aviation will appreciate the difficulty from this approach plate...
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But the view was spectacular on this fabulously sunny morning (but chilly at -1C).
On arrival we picked up our rental car and drove directly to Wanaka, where we had a generous lunch before driving back to Queenstown, our home for the next three nights.
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| A view of the steamer wharf in the late in the day |
A pleasant Thai dinner and a bottle of Otago Pinot Noir rounded out the day.
At latitude of 45°2'1" South sunrise on Sunday was at 0754 and it was a cool -2 degrees C. Again it was a gorgeously sunny day and that weather promised to continue for the rest of our visit. We started the day with a walk around the promontory on which the Queenstown Gardens stand, followed by coffee and cake in a spot in "Restaurant Row".
A bit of retail therapy was followed by a drive to Arrowtown where a walk along the banks of the Arrow River was taken in considerably cooler temperatures, with a heavy frost.
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| "I'm sure that looks like gold,” she said. But alas it was not! |
A delicious lunch in a warm restaurant kept the cold at bay. A return to Queenstown and aVietnamese dinner finished the special day.
Monday had a slightly cooler start and light breeze dropped the perceived temperature to -6C. A little bit of low cloud shrouded the lake. We decided to drive over to Wanaka again intending to have lunch at another of our haunts. To avoid any possible frost on the Crown Range Road we took the longer route through the gorge so we didn't arrive until just before 11:00. Low cloud kept the temperature low and made it seem a little gloomy, but coffee and cake soon warmed us up and we went for a walk along the lake front.
We changed our minds about lunching in Wanaka and headed instead for the Cardrona Hotel where we had a couple of excellent burgers and spent a couple of hours before returning to Queenstown.
By the time we made it back to Queenstown the clouds were gone, the skies were clear and the sun was illuminating the Remarkables to the southeast.
A few "Happy Hour" drinks and a Thai dinner closed out the day and a fabulous break.
Our departure tomorrow is early and we expect to be turning the key in the door at home by 10:00.
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