Lake Wanaka
Glenorchy
Just a 45-minute drive from Queenstown, the rustic town of Glenorchy is the setting of the South Island’s most famous shooting spots, including for ‘The Chronicles of Narnia’ and, of course, ‘The Lord of the Rings’.
The accommodation here is sparse and mostly involves house rentals, so we book a cottage for our stay online. We open a bottle of wine and feel right at home within minutes, gathered around a crackling fire, talking and laughing about our adventure so far, and looking out through the floor-to- ceiling glass windows at the 360 degree views.
Twenty kilometres from Glenorchy lies the town of Paradise. No, really. No one is entirely sure how it got its name – some say it was for its natural beauty, others for the paradise ducks that live in the area – all I know is, the only thing better than the drive from Queenstown to Glenorchy is the drive from Glenorchy to Paradise. It’s the gateway to Mount Aspiring National Park, truly a dreamland of river valleys and beech forests that come alive with the sounds of waterfalls and birds. Sir Ian McKellen, who plays Gandalf in the LOTR trilogy, said of the area: “This is the Middle Earth I had always pictured.”
Milford Sound
Called the eighth wonder of the world by Rudyard Kipling, Milford Sound lives up to its legend and is completely worth the four-hour drive from Queenstown. A lot of people choose to do it as a day trip, but not wanting to rush the experience – or tire ourselves out completely – we choose to stay overnight at Milford Sound Lodge.
Passing through the 1.2-kilometre long Homer Tunnel, you arrive on the other side to splendour of unearthly proportions. The towering cliffs rise 1200 metres or more on both sides of the fiord, creating a plethora of ever- changing waterfalls, and the sound is host to pods of dolphins and families of lazy seals.
We jump on a sightseeing day cruise with Go Orange, which offers four daily departures at the height of summer and free meals on board. We enjoy a breakfast of orange juice and BLTs on the early bird cruise and simply sit back and enjoy the out- of-this-world views... that’s until we stop beneath a cascade and get completely drenched head-to-toe! We drive to our final destination, Lake Wanaka, through the famous Crown Range. New Zealand’s highest road, reaching an altitude of 1121 metres, is complete with steep ascents and challenging twists and turns that have the kids playing the deadliest game of corners in the back seat I have ever witnessed – and, of course, spine-tingling mountain views.
Lake Wanaka proves to be a smaller, more laidback version of Queenstown, but just as scenic. The town itself has the atmosphere of a ski town, even though we are visiting in the summer, and its alpine surrounds make it a magnet for those wanting to experience the New Zealand outdoors at its best. We stop for a picnic at the famous Wanaka Tree, sprouting out of the lake like a photographer’s dream, and just let ourselves soak in the scenery, lost among the forests, clouds, mountains and endless skies ... Because that’s what happens when you are on the road, you lose all sense of time, and it’s divine.
Information
www.newzealand.com/int
Stay
www.thechalet.co.nz www.hermitage.co.nz www.milfordlodge.com
Eat
www.fergburger.com www.rss.co.nz www.theempanadakitchen.com cardronahotel.co.nz
Do
www.restart.org.nz www.earthandskynz.com www.goorange.co.nz