“Welcome to Middle Earth”

It was a great flight on Air New Zealand. We arrived on time and connection was no problem in Auckland. We didn’t have any time to linger, but the hour and a half connecting time was ample enough to get through customs and immigration and transfer to the domestic terminal.

Upon arriving in Queenstown, we collected our luggage and found an ATM inside the airport. We had a little difficulty locating Ace Rentals. They are an on-airport property, but don’t have a counter inside the airport. Once we got our bearings and asked someone, we realized they were right across the street. A simple walk with the trolley and we were there. I had specifically booked a sedan, but we were given a hatchback. Seems that when the bookings come through, they only see it as an economy car. But it had a boot cover, and all was good. Although we found the Japanese audio display confusing and ended up never using the radio. Nor could we find a way to change the settings. I wish we had brought some CD’s.

We found shopping area at airport right away. First priority was to get a Sim for the phone I purchased just for the trip (unlocked and quad-band). Unfortunately, all that research was for naught. For whatever reason, my phone wasn’t compatible with Telecom. So we purchased a new Samsung phone. New World Market nearby had everything we needed and the Warehouse had a cooler bag on sale for $5! It was an easy drive to Panorama Place. The apartment wasn’t quite ready but Clare allowed us to put our perishables in the refrigerator and fix a quick sandwich.

It was about a 10-minute walk into town. It was a gorgeous day, but cool. I was glad to have long sleeves on, but noticed others were in t-shirts and shorts. We ate our picnic lunch lakeside and headed for the Gondola, noticing the Patagonia Chocolate store on the way. We bought 2 luge rides for each of us, and were glad we did. That way, you get to ride both routes and the 2nd one was definitely more fun. It could get addictive. We stopped at Patagonia Chocolates on the way back and bought some truffles.

We went back to our little apartment and unloaded the rest of our stuff. There was lots of the day left and we needed to stay active to overcome jetlag.

We drove a short distance to Arthur’s Point and turned off at the road that leads to Oxenbridge Tunnel Track. It’s right across the river from the famed Shotover Jetboat. We watched a few of the boats come up as far as the tunnel, then the driver would hold the boat there and speak to his passengers, and off they’d go the other direction.

I don’t know why this track is so little known. It’s very short and the view at the end is absolutely gorgeous! You can clamber a bit to get closer to the tunnel at the beginning, but you really can’t get that close because there is so much water coming out of it.

We still had plenty of time left so we drove out a bit on the road to Glenorchy as far as Bob’s Cove. It was about an hour hike with a bit of a climb to Picnic Point, which overlooks the cove on one side, and Lake Wakatipu on the other.

Time to return to Panorama Place for dinner, shower, and bed!

Panorama Place is in an excellent location. It had fabulous views and was so peaceful, away from the hustle and bustle of Queenstown. We very much enjoyed sitting on the deck and taking it all in.

The Adventure Continues>>>