Above: Cardrona, Beginners Area.
Excuse the quality – these were taken when my technique was horrible and merged now, 18 months later – but they do show the beauty of the place!
Other posts from the beautiful South Island are here: http://lightswimming.com/category/nz-south/
Arrowtown, about 20 minutes from Queenstown, is a much quieter and more relaxed place compared to the hustle of QT. The old Chinese Settlement area is preserved to show the living conditions of the Chinese immigrant miners who came to Arrowtown for a gold rush in the 1860’s.
We were there on a beautiful cold clear day. Enjoy the photos!
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4 weeks ago I was in Victoria wearing a t-shirt, long-sleeved shirt, jumper, windproof layer, alpaca scarf, merino beanie and windproof hood…. and feeling cold.
Today – it feels like the first day of summer in Queensland (we always joke that in Qld we get 5 months of summer and 1 month of winter..) – it’s 34°C (that is 93°F for you crazy Americans). Not very humid yet – but enough to make me really NOT look forward to the next 5 months.
So – seemed like a good day to hide in the air-conditioning and go through photos of a snowy day in Queenstown New Zealand (Aug ’11). Enjoy!
While travelling in New Zealand’s South Island last year, we had a glorious “snow day” in Queenstown. At approximately 300m above sea level, and with a large glacial lake, Queenstown rarely sees snow in the town itself – but they had 30cm of fresh snow on one of the days we were there! A local shopkeeper said that it was the most snow he’d seen in Queenstown in 20 years.
Our plans for the day were cancelled – we couldn’t travel as we had planned, but once we managed to find accommodation for the night, we had the most glorious “snow day” – a great experience for the girls (and the adults).
The outside photos were taken (with very cold fingers) near the cemetery, at the base of Bob’s Peak, the hill closest to town.
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This gorgeous spot is on the road to Milford Sound so it is positively infested with buses full of tourists. You wouldn’t know from these pictures though :)
Other posts from our fantastic NZ South holiday are here: http://lightswimming.com/category/nz-south/.
We ran into this beautiful little creek, on the road from Five Rivers to Queenstown, running into the (unfashionable end of) Lake Wakatipu.
above: view of Lake Te Anau – from Te Anau Wildlife Park
Jetboating on part of the Upper Waiau River, between Lake Te Anau and Lake Manapouri. This section of the river is where the “River Anduin” scenes were filmed for the Lord of the Rings trilogy.
We travelled down to the beautiful Lake Manapouri – a glorious (very cold) day on the water.
Luxmore Jet really looked after us on a wintry NZ day.
Other posts from our fantastic NZ South holiday are here: http://lightswimming.com/category/nz-south/.
Above: Rainbow Reach of the Waiau River, taken from the swingbridge which crosses the river to the start of the Kepler Track.
The Kepler Track runs beside the Waiau River between Manapouri and Te Anau. The alpine sections of the track close for winter but we had the chance to walk on this short portion near the river.
Above: Haldane Bay inlet, from Haldane – Curio Bay Rd, The Catlins.
This area is the most southerly part of ‘mainland’ New Zealand, containing Slope Point (access is closed in winter) and Waipapa Point (more below) – approximately 46.7° South.
We started the day at our (pretty fabulous) Porpoise Bay / Curio Bay accommodation. We were doing it tough as you can see from this picture of Miss Eight. (Miss Seven at the time).
We travelled via Haldane – Curio Bay Rd to Waipapa Point – a beautiful trip. The weather was kinder to us – bright and sunny, though still extremely windy in exposed areas (which is pretty much a permanent condition around this part of the world).
Waipapa Point Recreation Reserve was beautiful. There has been no colour retouching in this next photo, the sky and water really looked like this!
Other posts from our fantastic NZ South holiday are here: http://lightswimming.com/category/nz-south/ or, for photos just from the Catlins, here: http://lightswimming.com/tag/the-catlins/
Above: Windswept trees – Curio Bay, The Catlins.
More photos from the beautiful Catlins. Other posts from our fantastic NZ South holiday are here: http://lightswimming.com/category/nz-south/ or, for photos just from the Catlins, here: http://lightswimming.com/tag/the-catlins/
It was extraordinarily windy and absolutely freezing (check out the trees at the top). Hard to imagine that, in summer, there is a a surf school at the adjacent beach here, but here’s a photo from the Curio Bay Campground surf school.
These photos are from perhaps my favourite part of New Zealand’s South Island – the sparsely populated, less touristy Catlins.
The Catlins are on the southeastern corner of the South Island – some amazing cool climate rainforest right next to the ocean and with rural areas next door. Absolutely gorgeous, peaceful and feels beautifully isolated, even though it’s only a couple of hours from Dunedin and Invercargill.
I have many more photos of this beautiful area and am really enjoying going through them properly – will post more shortly.
Other posts from our fantastic NZ South holiday are here: http://lightswimming.com/category/nz-south/
Our fantastic family farmstay accommodation in Dunedin. The kids didn’t want to leave. They fed these beautiful alpacas over the fence, morning and night.
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