Wednesday, March 4, Day two in Queenstown

The bungee jumping bridge.

I can’t believe how fast the time is flying by. Our trip is more than half over. Today was another beautiful day, not a cloud in the sky and about 75 degrees (same as yesterday). In the sun it is very hot, but in the shade it is cool. We have been told the NZ sun is very intense and I believe it.

Today we took a 45 minute drive north along Lake Wakatipa from Queenstown to Glenorchy at the source of the lake, which is the Dart River. This is the area where much of the Lord of the Rings movies were filmed. It is beautiful! You can very easily imagine you are in the Middle Earth, where the story took place. Along the lake the only sign of civilization is the road cut out along the hillside as it follows the lake. No boats on the lake and no buildings along the lake. Glenorchy and Queenstown are the only towns on this huge lake. Beyond the head of the lake is a fantastic view of Mount Earnslaw. It is beautiful snow capped peak, and in the foreground are lush green fields and the lake. (see photo.) The wind was whipping up on the lake today causing waves to roll and break onto the rocky beach. I’ve read that the lake is so long and big that due to “atmospheric conditions” the lake rises and falls 5 inches every day.

After having lunch at one of the 5 cafés in Glenorchy (the other 3 buildings in town were the Dart River Jet Boat activity house, a gas station, and a gift shop) we headed back toward Queenstown.

Sign on the cliff side dirt road to Chard Farm Winery.

You can see the dirt road cut out on the hill side in the center of the photo.

On the other side of Queenstown is a valley equivalent to our Napa Valley, but smaller. It’s about 15 miles long but only ½ mile wide, but on each side are wineries and vineyards. We finally did what we came to NZ to do – go wine tasting. We went to 3 wineries: Chard Farm, Peregrine Winery, and Gibston Valley Winery. We bought a bottle at the first two, but not at Gibston. Gibston had a cheese house where we did buy some sheep cheese. It is very good, much like parmesan. We’re now back at our room sitting on the balcony with a glass of wine and cheese, spoiling our dinner. We also have found out that to ship wine back to the US costs about $120 for every six bottles, so we’re not sure what were going to do about that.

Tomorrow we head out on an overnight boat on Doubtful Sound. The weather is supposed to stay nice until Friday (then rain), so we’re expecting to see some more amazing sights out on the water.