Amy needs to calm down about those mountains...

Yesterday we spent the day in Wanaka. Walking, exploring and chilling out to the backdrop of a stunning lake and snowy peaks. We took a path along the edge of the lake and got lost in conversation and scenery for over an hour before we realised we hadn’t been looking where we were going and for a moment couldn’t remember how we had reached that point. Luckily the way back was straight forward enough and soon we were back in the little town. After lunch we wondered around the few roads and looked in on a few shops selling intriguing bits of nothing and sniffed outside the bakeries. Ollie saw a poster advertising ‘Cornish Pasties’ (immediately irked that they had spelled ‘pasty’ pastie) and feeling that a mildly illegal business could be taking place he went in to try and buy one. To his surprise the bakers had ‘sold out’ and he was more than a little miffed that not only were pastys being sold in Otago but that they were apparently very popular too!

Sitting outside a little coffee shop that make the most delicious carrot cake (we tried not to let the nice food make us buy it) we watched the clouds finally disappear for the day and I got all fascinated by some little cheeky birds trying to steal the leftovers of a lunch at a table nearby. There were guard birds, rival birds, a planning committee and the two that were led by them in order to retrieve the large crust that had ben left behind. It was hilarious. And the bread was far to heavy for them to carry away. So in the end it turned into a mass fight for ‘a go’ at eating until a few birds formed a break away group and came over to our table to eat our crumbs. Naturally I obliged and made sure they got them.

Ollie was in need of ‘a pint Am’ so we found a very good looking Ale House and ordered a couple. Monteith’s Brewary make excellent beer and cider and have they’re brewery in Greymouth so all the pubs around here have them on tap. Apparently no one makes ale like they do in Cornwall, according to Ollie, but he still looked to be enjoying his anyway! Their cider is my favourite and after not having any in a while I was pretty thirsty! It was a good bar and our table looked straight out onto the lake and snow above. We must have spent a few hours in there chatting, laughing and reminiscing on the things we missed back home. My pint and half must have got to me a bit though because at one point I started to get a bit emotional over 20p’s! But most of all we talked of the people we missed and who we wished could be here to experience the ore of where we are. 

I mentioned in a previous blog about the scenery being able to bring me to tears and as we see more of this country it only gets harder to hold them back. Looking around everyday is to see an endless expanse of perfection that intensifies the longer you’re in it until it is painful. Like staring at the sun. It hurts so much you want to look away and yet you find yourself constantly trying to see more. What I have seen physically makes my heart ache. For me, the South Island is an extremely emotive place that twists itself into you so that after it, things will never be quite the same. A place has never done that to me before and I find it a bit unnerving. But irresistible nonetheless. 

* * *

After a restless and cold night’s sleep, daylight finally began to push through our curtains and warm us enough to dare leave our covers. Oh and a cup of tea helped! Ice was actually covering our windows and it took ages to get it off. Well, ages for Ollie! But eventually we could see enough to drive. A thick mist lurked all around us and made the frosty fields eerie. But as soon as we got out of shadow the mist had vanished and morning was finally happening. We noticed as we drove how places in the mountains’ shadows were full of mist and frost but everywhere not in them were perfectly normal. It was weird to see single clouds floating just meters from the ground and only in certain places. 

By the side of the road we noticed a little market selling fruit and veges so we stopped to take a look. Lucky for us we had picked the same time to stop as two coach loads of Japanese tourists and what we experienced next was a frenzy of picture taking, mass swarms and over eager appetites for the free ‘tasting table’. I know I’m being incredibly stereotypical but I have not exaggerated the situation in any way! The market was selling loads of dried fruits too so grabbing a big bag of banana chips (our favourite) we payed and got the hell out of there! If we’d stayed any longer Godzilla might have showed up! O.k. so now I’m being stereotypical...

We were passing a number of wineries (wow they have a lot in this country!) when suddenly I noticed a sign that read ‘Cheesery’. Wow! Naturally we immediately pulled over and went in to see if we could try any cheese. They had just opened and the lady was still setting up but she was very happy to give us a large selection of different cheeses to try while I tasted my way through a conversation about how much I loved the island. The cheeses were all on the gentler side of flavours (we tried goats, cows and sheep cheese, fiercely organic and home produced so I was o.k. with that!) and it was nice to try ones different to those I’d normally pick. I did ask to try her ‘stinkiest’ that might ‘take my mouth off’ and she did her best but...I’ve had better! In the end we bought a slice of their ‘Blue’ and one of their ‘Smoked Brie’. Later when we ate them I did enjoy both and even though they didn’t blow me away, it’s sometimes good to appreciate a different style!

A little town called Arrowtown appeared in the valley and we stopped to have a look around. An old mining village, it kind of looked like towns we’d seen out west in America. I never knew Gold mining had been such a big deal in New Zealand, but apparently it was! The main street was made up of small shops and cafes and Ollie and I knew immediately that as lovely as this place was it was a big trap for us. Just the kind of place we could spend all day drinking coffee and eating good food whilst letting the rest of our money sink into our bellies. Tearing ourselves away after a quick visit to the bakery, we both had a vegetarian (I know right? As if Ollie picked something vegetarian and not one of their ‘famous’ meat pies! I must be converting him!) Calzone (yum!), and then left Arrowtown as fast as we could.

Next we drove down into Queenstown (we’ll be coming back their later don’t worry) and out the other side following the path of Lake Wakatipu. Just incidentally, don’t places here have the most awesome names?! The Maori language is fantastic! My impersonation of the language is not. Anyway, along the stunningly wondrous, magnificently smooth lake (New Zealand needs a dictionary of adjectives all of its own I swear ‘cos I’m all out after only a few months!) you can grab a glimpse of locations that were used in the filming of ‘Lord Of The Rings’. Now, personally, I couldn’t tell you what parts and even though it says a few on our AtoZ I wouldn’t have a clue what, say ‘Gladden fields’ looked like in the film! 

Because I enjoyed the trilogy, well the first parts until it got to the bit where the big trees deliberated forever about whether to go and help and then when they did they walked so slowly they got nowhere fast which was strange because as they were so big surely they would have covered ground quicker. After that bit I kind of switched off and by the time the last film came out I had forgotten the beginning and I didn’t really care about the ring or Mordor anymore and all I was left with was a half hearted impression of Gollum that received no critical acclaim from anyone. I should read the books but I’m afraid fantasy doesn’t really get me going and although I sincerely appreciate how great Tolkein was (and I really do) and what he was trying to accomplish by creating the stories and Middle Earth (for further info on that please see my Essay entitled ‘British Nationhood: A Myth?’ - Self plugging at it’s best aye!) I can’t say I’ll ever manage to read those books. But never say never right?

At the end of the main road is Glenorchy. A tiny hamlet bordered by Lake Wakatipu on one side and mountains on the other. It is of course utterly picturesque and has a lovely hours walking trail just behind it. Peaceful and quiet, it is the place Queenstown locals come to escape the emmets! Whilst eating our cheese, I noticed a tiny place 40Km beyond Glenorchy that was only reachable by a dirt track. That place was named ‘Paradise’. Instantly I got it in my head that we had to get there and even though our van is anything but a 4WD I felt that shouldn’t stop us. So we went. And everything was fine, perhaps a little bumpy (O.k extremely), until we saw another camper van face down in a ditch. It was being towed and although we couldn’t help laugh, it did make us a little nervous. It was an icy patch of road that had thrown the van off and we had confidence in Ollie’s driving! We had to wait about ten minutes to be able to get past and while we were stopped a 4x4 zoomed past us and three lads gave us odd looks before they realised why we were stopped in the road. They looked a bit silly screeching to a halt after they had already seen us.

Past the fallen van we continued our pursuit of Paradise and made it through pot hole after pot hole, small streams and down muddy slopes that we hoped we could get back up. But then our dreams came to a crashing reality when, in front of us, appeared a river. And there was no way our Mystery Machine (A.K.A Manuel!) was gonna take that bad boy on! Conceding at the same time, Ollie and I looked at each other and agreed that our turn in Paradise was not to come just yet. And we had been so close! So as a fly can’t go back and tell his larvee mates at the bottom of the pond what it’s like ‘up top’, Ollie and I can’t tell you what Paradise is like. But lend us a 4x4 and we might be able to sort something out!

We turned around and gripped our seats as we took on the trail going in the opposite direction. The jeep with the lads in had zoomed past us again like idiots but we chose to ignore them. We chewed on our hearts as we took on the muddy bank and as I yelled ‘Come on you ********************’ (***** indicates a secret chant that only people who need it can know...) Ollie sped us and we juuuuust made it over the top. After which a couple of girls in what looked to be the equivalent of a ‘Twingo’ decided to give it a go. If we see them on the news we’ll let their families know what happened. We were just coming around the corner to where we’d seen the ‘towing’ when Ollie let out a massive laugh and a ‘Brilliant!’ Those three lads who had tried to be all cocky had only gone and fallen in EXACTLY the same ditch as the van had gone in! We couldn’t believe it!! We also couldn’t stop laughing! Instant Karma! As we took a slow mocking drive past I gave them a big grin and a thumbs up which was returned with three very foolish looking guys who smiled and waved sheepishly at us. Lucky for them a big tractor, that they had also roared past earlier, had been kind enough to stop and and decide to help them out. But even that guy was laughing at the dummies! Haha I’m still chuckling now!

Finally back on a road surface that didn’t feel like a trip to the Dentist’s we found Glenorchy again and headed back towards Queenstown. Just off the road was a small track that actually had a ‘Yes Campervan you can actually stop here and we won’t be grumpy about it’’ sign (no that’s not what the sign said, but I thought that’s what the diagram of the camper with no line through it with 7PM-9AM wanted to tell me) and led to a beach that looked out onto the lake, Pig Island (doesn’t really look like a pig, maybe if you squinched your eyes) and Pigeon Island (definitely doesn’t look like a Pigeon no matter what you might try to do to your eyes). The water had become the stillest we’d ever seen and as the sun began to lower I actually couldn’t believe we were going to be able to spend the night at such a glorious place.

Ollie found that flat, flat, flat, super flat lakes make the best skimming spots and tried to impress me with skims that went for up to thirty times! My best was two. The same as in the sea. Apparently it’s my technique and stone choice. So as I wasn’t up to the required standard I chose to sit on a rock and catch up on some blogging. Definitely one of the more inspiring places I’ve chosen to write. Perhaps I should come and live here and maybe it will help me to produce something worthy of being put into a book...

And lastly. I know, I know, I always say it, but seriously, those mountains!

26/7/12