Queenstown (6) – Excursion to Glenorchy, Wanaka and Arrowtown

Saturday 17/03

After preparing breakfast and the sandwiches for the picnic, I go and take the car at the rent-a-car company in town. I’m back at 8:20am. We leave directly to Glenorchy.

Contrary to the weather forecast, the weather is very cloudy this morning. We wanted to arrive early in Glenorchy (before the arrival of the tour buses) to have nice pictures of the reflection (of the mountains) in the Wakatipu lake. The road along the lake (45’ to Glenorchy) is beautiful but with this cloudy weather it’s nothing special.

On the way back to Queenstown, the sky rapidly clears up. It changes everything. The scenery is much better.

After a stop in Frankton in a good bakery (where I went the first day after giving back the camper) where we all buy a treat, we take the very scenic road from Queenstown to Wanaka. The road is superb with many beautiful outlooks.

We arrive in Wanaka around noon. There are sublime views of the Wanaka lake.

We decide to go and eat our picnic on top of Mt Iron (500m). The short climb to the top reveals panoramic views. The loop walk takes us 1.5 hour.

We then go to Puzzling World. We have a lot of fun. There’s an outside 3D Great Maze and lots of fascinating brain-bending visual illusions inside.

We go back to Wanaka to eat a nice ice cream (delicious peach) at Black Peak. Thanks Sophie for the advice!

On our way back to Queenstown, we pass by Arrowtown but it’s already 7:30pm so we don’t stop. We just drive on the (pretty) main avenue, which retains many original gold-rush buildings.

We come back in the apartment at 8pm.

I prepare pasta while the rest of the family starts packing. We are leaving Queenstown tomorrow. We take a plane to Auckland, where we spend one night before taking a plane to Papeete (on Tahiti), where we spend one night before taking a plane to Easter Island…

As usual, the last evening before traveling is a bit hectic, between packing (with also the things we want to send back to Belgium) and organizing the backups of our pictures. We are in bed at 1:30am.

 

2 Replies to “Queenstown (6) – Excursion to Glenorchy, Wanaka and Arrowtown

  1. Hi,

    This is Stanley and Sikka from Taiwan, the Taiwanese you met in Torres del Paine. Finally we have a better internet and cozy night to surf your blog. It’s pretty impressive that you started and keep recording this around the world tour! We haven’t had the chance for the world tour but certainly a pleasure to read your articles!

    May your family have a wonderful world trip and I do really look forward to another Belgium masterpiece: The Adventures of Barbiers!

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