Day 29: Began with rabbits and ended with a UFO!

We didn't sleep terribly well last night, it rained on and off and bounced loud on the roof of the van above our heads, and I guess I was still concerned about being out in an isolated campsite by ourselves.  I think we have agreed not to opt for freedom camps miles down gravel tracks as there were good wild campsites alongside Lake Dunstan when we reached it this morning, and they weren't in our Wilderness guide.

I finally awoke at first light and enjoyed watching lots of rabbits appear from the brush for their grazing, hopping, jumping and chasing.  It would be a great spot for Harrier Breakfast!

We negotiated the steep downhill back to the valley bottom and trundled down the gravel lane through the Bendigo vineyards, to reach the highway.  There was a single deer in the wood by the roadside.

Alongside this road there were strange rock formations, some reminiscent of Brimham Rocks.  We were soon passing through vineyard after vineyard in the Central Otago wine belt, with wonderful names such as 'Red Shed Vineyard', 'Wooing Tree Winery', 'Bannockburn Wines', 'Mt Rosa Wines' and 'Peregrine Wines'.

The first town we passed through at the end of the lake  was Cromwell and I'm guessing it must be a centre for fruit production as there were orchards lining the roads and the town sign was an enormous bunch of fibre glass fruit!

After Cromwell, we drove in to the Kawarau Gorge, steep sided with a turquoise river running in the bottom of it.  This was a busy highway, being a main road to Queenstown, and Tony had to keep pulling over which made for stressful driving along with the twisting and narrowing roads.  We stopped off briefly at Roaring Meg Power Station and learned about the 'wildings'.  These are trees which are not native to New Zealand and they are slowly being poisoned in order to encourage native plants to recolonise the gorge, the reason why they looked bare and dead.

Our next stop, further down the gorge, was at AJ Hacketts Bungy Jump to watch folks plunging in to the gorge from a bridge.  It was very well orchestrated for maximum profit.  Tony and I were not tempted to have a go but we did have a cuppa in the cafe before moving on.  Those brave or bonkers souls (depending on your point of view) who did have a go, could part with more of their cash when back on dry land by having photos and/or a video of their jump plus the t-shirt/hoodie etc etc

So now it was forward to Queenstown (described by friend Chris as Bowness on speed!  How right you were Chris).  It was still early so we diverted to the very pretty ex- gold mining settlement of Arrowtown. The town itself retains several of its early, quaint, settler buildings now housing upmarket craft, souvenir, deli and restaurant businesses.  We picked up a few bits at the Museum/Information Centre and then went for lunch at the Gibbston Valley Restaurant enjoying house-made smoked chicken and corn soup, very tasty but far too much for me to finish.

We also took a walk to see the remains of the Chinese goldmining settlement just outside the town.  The Chinese miners were encouraged to come to the area to pan for gold but actually it had all but dried up.  They lived very simply in tiny houses growing vegetables and, although they attracted some hostility, they were seen by man as noble and peaceful.

From Arrowtown we took a back road to Queenstown, affording us fabulous views of the Remarkables Range of mountains with their craggy ridges reminiscent of the Cuillins on Skye.

Finally we arrived at the Lakeview (hah!) Holiday Park (NZD55 for two adults for one night), settled in, did the laundry and a shower before exploring the town.  It is indeed Bowness on speed and truly bonkers.  It has facilities for folks to pretty much try anything adrenalin-driven be it mountain, water, bike, air, land based - the list of craziness is endless.  There are huge numbers of young people here, making it the busiest place we have visited on our trip to date, and they all seem to be up for these adrenalin rushes.  I felt that if I had been twenty again I would have loved it.  There are shops to cater for every kind of need and a significant number selling tours and experiences.  We struggled to find information about walking and cycle tracks that we could just go off and do ourselves, but there were endless companies willing to organise us and charge us for doing it!

Eventually we read on a leaflet that the DOC had a 'shop' in town and we managed to secure what we needed plus good advice.  I shall be glad to be away early in the Milford Wanderer tomorrow to some quiet in the Sound.  The campsite is heaving!

As for the UFO, Tony called me out to look at the starry sky after dark, but also the strange phenomenon that is the Skyline Gondola perched on the high hill behind the Holiday Park and still lit up.  With the hill blacked out, the circular building, hanging in space, looked like the spaceship from Close Encounters!