Day 10: Wanaka to Queenstown

Sunrise over Wanaka was beautiful, our Backpackers over looked the lake from the dining room giving us amazing views at sunset and sunrise. Paul and I both liked Wanaka, it is touristy but laid back enough to be quaint still. Our plan for the day was to head to Cromwell and then to Queenstown.

Cromwell is a lovely town on the banks of Lake Dunstan and the Kawerau river, we explored Old Cromwell town, the old town buildings that were relocated when the Clutha River was dammed.

We continued on the the Goldfields display in the Kawerau Gorge, this was pretty interesting, and really rugged country. The Kawerau Gorge was rocky and dry with growths of wild Thyme and wild roses everywhere. I loved the ruggedness of the place, but it was hot and dry.

So on to Queenstown, the uber tourist spot of the Southern Alps.

We arrived in Queenstown at about 2pm on a Friday, and it was abuzz with tourists , tourists and more tourists. We both were amazed at how congested, over blown, tacky it all was. The backpackers we had booked for the night was a bit tacky, but it had a great view from the little deck, down in the garden. Paul and I had planned on 2 nights in Queenstown, but after arriving we decided to get out of town the next day. So we did our Earnslaw cruise at 6pm, it was great. we both fell in love with the old steam ship. On the way back from Walter Peak Station (where the ship goes) we were sitting on the Promenade deck when some young ladies from Asia started playing the piano, they were pretty good, one started playing "Moon River", so we had a bit of a sing-a-long. What a memory to keep, but perhaps we could forget Queenstown.