South Island 2003

Friday 26th
Second day based at Cromwell.

The weather started off fine and cool at sunrise, but quickly deteriorated into a cold breeze with low cloud and light rain and continued like that all day. On the higher parts of the hills and on the mountains we could see the fine sprinkling of fresh snow which had fallen during the night. We paid an interesting visit to the Cromwell Information Center where there were many photos of the flooding of the old Cromwell Town in 1990 when the Clyde Dam was completed. A model of the old town with the present day lake level was particularly interesting and we spent about an hour browsing the small museum. We had recommended to us the café inside one of the original buildings at Old Cromwell Town, so we went along for a very enjoyable coffee and muffin.

As we wanted to drive over the Crown Range between Arrowtown and Wanaka and because the following day's weather was likely to be better for this, we decided to head for Queenstown. So we headed off through the Kawarau Gorge to Arrowtown where I took photos and bought woolly slippers. We walked the town, had lunch and investigated the Arrow River where Arwen conjured a flood to sweep the Black Riders downstream to save our hero. The actual location is only 300 metres down stream, but you need either to drive down the river (the river is quite fast moving, but only knee deep) in a 4WD or to cross the river 3 or 4 times if you do it on foot. With water temperature near freezing and air temperature not much more I decided I would have to wait a bit longer to get my LOTR fix.

A cold, wet Arrowtown main street

The obligatory shot in front of the miner's cottages

Arrow River - not a Black Rider in sight

So it was on to Queenstown.

One of the principal streets in Queenstown

The internet is everywhere

In Queenstown after walking the town and marvelling at the mushrooming tourist city we drove up to the top of the Kelvin Deer Park past Frankton Junction. It took a crisp $20 note to enter the park, but after we had finished we voted that it had been worth it. Inside the park there were deer, goats, sheep, highland cattle and bison (though we didn’t actually see any bison). The goats were very inquisitive, expecting to be fed and would climb into the car if you left the door open. Many spectacular views of the snow covered ranges (The Remarkables) with the low cloud giving the mountains an erie quality. At the top of the Kelvin Park are many of the LOTR locations which were used for pickup shots and also for the waag fight scenes.

Looking down on Frankton and the airport from the Kelvin Deer Park