Beautiful Arrowtown

We arrived in Queenstown/Arrowtown (South Island NZ) on Saturday the 20th of February from Sydney in pouring rain, met by Rob and Maureen our good friends and holiday guides for the next 9 days!

The first stop was to pick up our executive hire car which is like something from the 1950's! Its actually a Japanese Nissan Tilda 2004 which has probably been round the clock at least twice! But hey it goes!

Our home for the first nine days in NZ is a wonderful cottage owned by Roger and Jane in a tranquil and beautiful spot near Lake Hayes. Jane had baked us macaroons to greet us and the place couldn't be better.

The rain stopped rapidly on day one and Rob and Mo gave us a quick tour to get us started on the NZ leg of our world adventure.

On the following day we walked the 17km Arrow and Kawarau river walk to Hackett Bridge bungee jumping station, declining the opportunity to jump when we got there!

On day 3 Rob and Mo were busy funyacking so we walked into Arrowtown via Christine's Hill and through Milbrook Golf Club (the venue for the NZ Open from March the 11th). The views and walk were stunning. On route we visited an old chinese gold mining settlement on the outskirts of Arrowtown.

Late afternoon we decided it was time for an adrenalin rush so went to the Shotover Jet Boat experience and had a dramatic ride down the the Shotover River Canyons. The ride is fast and furious with 360 degree turns in wonderful and very tight canyons. No cameras were allowed but our trustee tour guides were there to capture the moment!

Today we travelled to Glenorchy at the end of Lake Wakatipu with Rob and Mo. The Lake boasts a 99.9% purity level which makes it superior to most bottled water. We saw black swans and venues used for the Lord of the Rings movie. Glaciers were in the distance and the Lake itself was an unreal blue. It was truly awesome.

From one staggering place to another, we toured over unsealed roads in our luxury Nissan to Lake Moke. This lake sits in steep valley created by glaciers thousands of years ago. We walked around the entire perimeter and lunched half way round. It's almost impossible to describe how beautiful this area is. The colours, the mountains, the lakes and views have simply blown us away! 

We are out for a meal with friends tonight and I'm golfing with Rob and Roger tomorrow afternoon at Arrowtown Golf Club and probably spending the morning walking round Hayes Lake and possibly kayaking with our Scottish tour guides!