Another later than usual start this morning, but then, we're on holiday aren't we?
Arrowtown is our destination today - an old gold mining village to the northeast of Queenstown. As the motel is on Gorge Road, we simply drive on, passing Arthur's Point until we reach a bridge over the River Shotover,
and, just by chance, this happens to be where the Shotover Jet boats operate, so we have to stop and watch! After the experience with the jetboats yesterday, I'm quite interested to see what the difference is. From where we are looking down on them, first the viewing platform, then from the bridge, it's completely different. They operate from a purpose built jetty on the river itself and go upstream through rapids, then turn and go downstream - through the narrow gorge with rocks sticking out either side, not inches away from them.
It's just as well we did open river and lake yesterday - I don't think I could have coped with this! But it still looks very exciting and we get some great pics and film.
Back into the car and on to Arrowtown which is just as the brochures describe it - a township built to cater for the gold miners who worked the area in the 1860s and '70s, allowed it pretty much to fall into disrepair, then brought back to life when tourists became interested in the history and started coming to visit. A lot of the original miners' houses still exist and have been carefully restored and new buildings have kept close to the look of the originals.
Most of them are now retail outlets catering for the tourists, as you can imagine, but they're on the whole nice shops, not a lot of tat. There are plenty of walks in the area too, and a good little museum. We spent a very pleasant 3 hours there including the daily coffee stop.
One of the nice things about going to Arrowtown is that you can do a round trip, rather than having to go there and come back the same way. We came back via the shores of Lake Hayes. As Queenstown is a cul-de-sac, you know when you get there that you have to go out the same way you come in!
Arriving back in Queenstown late afternoon, we stopped first at the Queenstown Gardens. They don't come up to the standard of the Christchurch gardens, but they're still well laid out, with most tree types marked and lots of the plants. There are some huge old trees there, and lots that have been planted in more recent years, many planted in memory of local people, some of them famous, some not. There is a large rock formation in tribute to the ill-fated Scott expedition to the Antarctic and there were also some rocks placed in memory of NZ climbers who'd died while climbing.
On a much lighter note, we were puzzled by several metal structures scattered in no apparent pattern throughout the Gardens. The chains at the top are fixed, and at the bottom are connected to a metal ring that can slide up and down the central pole.
We thought they might be some sort of feeding trough - what do you think? You can send in your answers using the comment facility. We'll give you the answer in a few days, but we can't offer any prizes - you'll just get smartie points!
We left the Gardens, parked back at the motel and walked into town, detouring via the Gondola. Tom hadn't warned me that he intended for us to take a ride on it, so I hadn't brought my little camera*. There was no queue at this time of day, so we got straight on board, facing out towards the view over the town. (Those of you who know me well will know that I'm not good with heights - thats perhaps an understatement!) The gondola was swaying a little bit but not too badly but I could start to feel the vertigo not long after we left the ground. I did all the right things, not looking down, breathing deeply and muttering calm things to myself. When we alighted at the top, I felt a little strange, but we went onto the viewing platform with me hugging the inside, and Tom filming happily over the edge.
The cafe had just closed, so I couldn't have a nice strong drink to calm my nerves, so we decided just to make the return trip. This time I sat facing in to the cliff - I don't know which was worse - but at least I couldn't see how far up we were. The wind had got up and the gondola was swaying about, so by the time we "landed" I felt quite queasy. Not to be beaten, I followed Tom down into town so we could try out the free internet cafe he'd seen yesterday. I had to leave him to visit the loos!
(*just as well I didn't have the camera - it might have ended up over the edge!)
While I was walking off my queasiness along the waterfront, I spied a high stone fountain with different layers of limestone, rocks, schist, and railway sleepers.
The plaque beside it described it as representing the local area and also as a memorial to the two great floods that have happened in the town, one in 1874, the other in 1999. These were signified by two metal bands round the fountain.. Both water levels were high enough that all the shops and businesses in that area of the town would have had flooding up to 2-3 feet. In fact our boat driver, Jim had told us that trade had suffered massively in the 1999 flood and that water defences have been made higher as a result. Unfortunately, because I didn't have the camera, we couldn't take a photo. (Tom's Note. I cheated and found this pic on Flickr)
We ambled our way back to the motel through the Friday night crowds - all the workers obviously congregate in the bars and cafes after a hard week at work, just like in the UK. Not daring to trust myself to a restaurant meal, we ate in our rooms again. I then had an early night while Tom sorted out all the photos onto the computer.
While we were at the Shotover river, we saw two great car number plates. They were on Nomad Safari landrovers, taking clients to visit Lord of the Rings sites out in the wilds. They were FRODOS and PIPPIN. The car registrations here are odd. There seems to be no logic, no area letters, or year numbers and it looks as if you can choose just about anything you want. We've seen plenty of personalised plates with some really comic names - can't remember any now of course.
TOMS NOTE.
This is all we can get on for now, as the internet cafe is closing. It's Sunday, so we'll try to catch up when we get more access.
Arrowtown is our destination today - an old gold mining village to the northeast of Queenstown. As the motel is on Gorge Road, we simply drive on, passing Arthur's Point until we reach a bridge over the River Shotover,
and, just by chance, this happens to be where the Shotover Jet boats operate, so we have to stop and watch! After the experience with the jetboats yesterday, I'm quite interested to see what the difference is. From where we are looking down on them, first the viewing platform, then from the bridge, it's completely different. They operate from a purpose built jetty on the river itself and go upstream through rapids, then turn and go downstream - through the narrow gorge with rocks sticking out either side, not inches away from them. It's just as well we did open river and lake yesterday - I don't think I could have coped with this! But it still looks very exciting and we get some great pics and film.Back into the car and on to Arrowtown which is just as the brochures describe it - a township built to cater for the gold miners who worked the area in the 1860s and '70s, allowed it pretty much to fall into disrepair, then brought back to life when tourists became interested in the history and started coming to visit. A lot of the original miners' houses still exist and have been carefully restored and new buildings have kept close to the look of the originals.
Most of them are now retail outlets catering for the tourists, as you can imagine, but they're on the whole nice shops, not a lot of tat. There are plenty of walks in the area too, and a good little museum. We spent a very pleasant 3 hours there including the daily coffee stop.One of the nice things about going to Arrowtown is that you can do a round trip, rather than having to go there and come back the same way. We came back via the shores of Lake Hayes. As Queenstown is a cul-de-sac, you know when you get there that you have to go out the same way you come in!
Arriving back in Queenstown late afternoon, we stopped first at the Queenstown Gardens. They don't come up to the standard of the Christchurch gardens, but they're still well laid out, with most tree types marked and lots of the plants. There are some huge old trees there, and lots that have been planted in more recent years, many planted in memory of local people, some of them famous, some not. There is a large rock formation in tribute to the ill-fated Scott expedition to the Antarctic and there were also some rocks placed in memory of NZ climbers who'd died while climbing.
On a much lighter note, we were puzzled by several metal structures scattered in no apparent pattern throughout the Gardens. The chains at the top are fixed, and at the bottom are connected to a metal ring that can slide up and down the central pole.
We thought they might be some sort of feeding trough - what do you think? You can send in your answers using the comment facility. We'll give you the answer in a few days, but we can't offer any prizes - you'll just get smartie points!We left the Gardens, parked back at the motel and walked into town, detouring via the Gondola. Tom hadn't warned me that he intended for us to take a ride on it, so I hadn't brought my little camera*. There was no queue at this time of day, so we got straight on board, facing out towards the view over the town. (Those of you who know me well will know that I'm not good with heights - thats perhaps an understatement!) The gondola was swaying a little bit but not too badly but I could start to feel the vertigo not long after we left the ground. I did all the right things, not looking down, breathing deeply and muttering calm things to myself. When we alighted at the top, I felt a little strange, but we went onto the viewing platform with me hugging the inside, and Tom filming happily over the edge.
The cafe had just closed, so I couldn't have a nice strong drink to calm my nerves, so we decided just to make the return trip. This time I sat facing in to the cliff - I don't know which was worse - but at least I couldn't see how far up we were. The wind had got up and the gondola was swaying about, so by the time we "landed" I felt quite queasy. Not to be beaten, I followed Tom down into town so we could try out the free internet cafe he'd seen yesterday. I had to leave him to visit the loos!(*just as well I didn't have the camera - it might have ended up over the edge!)
While I was walking off my queasiness along the waterfront, I spied a high stone fountain with different layers of limestone, rocks, schist, and railway sleepers.
The plaque beside it described it as representing the local area and also as a memorial to the two great floods that have happened in the town, one in 1874, the other in 1999. These were signified by two metal bands round the fountain.. Both water levels were high enough that all the shops and businesses in that area of the town would have had flooding up to 2-3 feet. In fact our boat driver, Jim had told us that trade had suffered massively in the 1999 flood and that water defences have been made higher as a result. Unfortunately, because I didn't have the camera, we couldn't take a photo. (Tom's Note. I cheated and found this pic on Flickr)We ambled our way back to the motel through the Friday night crowds - all the workers obviously congregate in the bars and cafes after a hard week at work, just like in the UK. Not daring to trust myself to a restaurant meal, we ate in our rooms again. I then had an early night while Tom sorted out all the photos onto the computer.
While we were at the Shotover river, we saw two great car number plates. They were on Nomad Safari landrovers, taking clients to visit Lord of the Rings sites out in the wilds. They were FRODOS and PIPPIN. The car registrations here are odd. There seems to be no logic, no area letters, or year numbers and it looks as if you can choose just about anything you want. We've seen plenty of personalised plates with some really comic names - can't remember any now of course.
TOMS NOTE.
This is all we can get on for now, as the internet cafe is closing. It's Sunday, so we'll try to catch up when we get more access.
2 comments:
Maggie said: Well done Mags, 2 experiences in 2 days. Now it's pay back time! A whole day in a few needlework shops!
Hugh wondered if the schist in the fountain was directly related to the earlier visits recorded during the day?!
Re:- the basket and chains
The explanation is that it is probably a Disc Golf basket (equivalent to a hole in golf). It is a game that has been around since the 60s and is played as
you would a game of golf. You have three frisbees equivalent to wood, driver and putter. It is being introduced into British schools at the moment. Put Mike Bushell into the seach engine and it should bring it up. There is even a British Disc Golf Association - an
No, none of this is a joke.
Keep on blogging.
Jane and Peter
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