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We said goodbye to the very southern tip of New Zealand and headed back towards the mountains and sheep country. We've crossed a lot of miles over the last two days and seen big views, big skies and big fruit! Here is our list of highlights from Tuarapere to Lake Takapo.
No 1 McKenzies look out. Fab views out to Antarctica and the Hump Ridge.
NO 2 Lake Wakatipu, 100 kilometres of lake a fantastic setting for Queenstown
No 3 Arrowtown. A virtual world of tourists, boutique shops all based in a really old gold mining town of 150 yrs.
No 4 Gorgeous Kawarau gorge. A deep chasm with a raging bright blue river used to generate electricity.
No 5 wineries lining the valley floor mile upon mile tempting you with tours and tastings - we resisted but stocked up with local wines at the supermarket.
No 6 Cromwell, home of some enormous plastic fruit. Mike refrained from having his foto taken in front of them, even his bad taste didn't drop to this level. Cromwell is on a major crossroads and is interesting because in the 1980s part of the town was flooded to create a reservoir to generate hydro electric power. They dismantled part of the old town and rebuilt it further up the valley.
No 7 the holiday park at cromwell, our home for one night is described by the lonely plant guide as resembling a small european state due to its size and no of europeans in their campavans.
No 8 Moreno sheep. The new zealanders have traded up from bog standard sheep for eating to high value merino sheep producing lovely soft and warm wool. Tarras is the home to shrek the sheep who avoided the annual round up for shearing for five years but as a result couldn't see anything because of his overgrown fringe and struggled to move because of the weight of wool he was carrying. He was found in a cave and became a celebrity even meeting the nz prime minister. He was called Shrek because he looked so ugly! We passed many fields full of Shrek's family and friends.
No 9 Lindis pass. A pass in the middle of nowhere surrounded by mountains bigger than Ben Nevis and covered in tussocks of grass, yes we have left the forest behind.
No 10 Lake Pukaki - fab views of mt cook and the highest mountains in the Southern Alps. Bright blue water of the lake is stunning. Also retail opportunity to buy local farmed salmon which we did and ate this evening for tea, yummy.
- comments
Chris Moore Fantastic to meet up with you at Lake Tekapo! Hope your run to Christchurch was less eventful than ours to Queenstown . Lorry whizzed past at a rate of knots throwing up a stone that was hefty enough to make large chip in windscreen which rapidly led to 3 large cracks ( about 50-60 cm long) travelling in 3 different directions! Now have to spend tomorrow morning having replacement windscreen fitted! Don't forget to try a snack from one of the Re start mall containers in Christchurch - we thought that they were excellent! All the best. X
jodie I'm disappointed about there being no giant plastic fruit selfies ! ;)