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xx.xx: Hello-ee! 😀. Welcome to Tuesday – it’s another travel day for us.

Day 28 – Where are we?
(Tuesday, 26th November)

8.36am: With just a few days left in New Zealand, today, we said goodbye to Te Anau and drove south-eastwards and then north to Arrowtown, around 200km (121 miles) away. It’s an old gold-mining town, and we’re staying at the Arrowfield Apartments. En-route, about halfway there, we’re stopping off at Kingston. From Kingston, because of better weather today, we’re then heading for nearby Queenstown to try the Skyline Gondola.

Kingston

10.10am For our ‘comfort break’, Kingston was about 125km (78 miles) into our journey, but we knew nothing more about it except it was a very small town on the SH6 (State Highway 6) with a population of under 400. We’re both glad we made the stop though. Not only was the weather perfect for a comfort break, the scenery was outstanding!

Wow, what a find Kingston was! They even had a single picnic table to admire the view! Our next stop? Queenstown…

On the Road to Queenstown

From Kingston, we took the short drive to Queenstown following the Sun. Initially, the roads were still pretty empty and very scenic…

Some ten-minutes later, some more amazing views! (this was more than making up for yesterday’s washout!). This stop was called ‘The Devil’s Staircase’. We thought it was a great name, but what’s about its history? Are the rocks in the shape of a staircase heading down to the water? Do the rock formations remind you of Beelzebub? Well, actually, it’s related to unemployed men being paid just 10 shillings per day for the back-breaking work to meet the opening of the nearby road in 1936! – apparently, it’s all related to ‘The Devil makes work for idle hands’.

Queenstown

11.31am: With its population of around 28000, Queenstown is much bigger than Kingston, but they share the same neighbour – the shores of the South Island’s Lake Wakatipu, all set against the dramatic Southern Alps. It was a busy city! As we got closer, we probably saw more cars today that for the rest of the holiday combined! We haven’t been used to this much traffic for a while and it took some manoeuvring to finally find where we need to be. With the weather forecast so much better than yesterday, we made for the town centre and the Skyline Gondola.

‘The Skyline Gondola’

This looked like fun! Opened in 1961, the Gondola here is really more of what we’d call a Cable Car and offers stunning views across the area. Currently, it’s clearly ‘work in progress’ as they attempt to make the whole thing wider, taller and more of a ‘destination’ rather than a one-off attraction. It would be good to see this all again, in say, five years’ time.

For two Adults (they gave me the benefit of the doubt! 🤭) return tickets for just the Gondola cost us 128NZD (£59.55) for the pair of us, plus parking in the nearby multi-storey of 6NZD (£2.80) per hour. Parking was challenging around the immediate area of the Skyline, and the building of this newish car-park was just what’s needed to accommodate the gazillions willing to experience unique views of Queenstown.

Off we go!

The views were pretty good on the way up, but it’s worth waiting until the very top, where you can get out and head for the Observation Deck…

This was a great experience. Allowing for taking photographs at the top, we were up and down in around 40 minutes.

12.15pm Back on the road again and we were now heading for our final stop for today – Arrowtown. We’d chosen to stay here simply because accommodation a few miles outside of Queenstown was so much better value. The roads were quieter too. Having got used to the almost empty roads out here, it was a shock to the system to drive into Queenstown and see so many vehicles! 😯

Arrowtown

12.24pm: Just a short hop from Queenstown, Arrowtown is a historic gold mining town in the Otago region of the South Island. It has a population of just under 3000 and nowadays, is considered a very desirable place to live (with prices to match!) 😯

The weather here was glorious! It was 22℃ when we arrived and 24℃ when we left the town – a great way to spend the last few days of the holiday! 👍. The town trades very much on the gold-mining legacy and the main town centre is a series of recreated old buildings of the time but filled with modern distractions. It was all very quaint and absolutely packed! Think Bicester Shopping Village but smaller!

Yes, all very twee with the locals appearing to be enjoying wandering around the town and spending their money as much as us tourists! 😀👍

12.45pm: Tine for a spot of lunch! We tried Bendix Stables in the town and were very impressed! A tasty menu and very quick service (they were busy too!) 👍👍

We finished our visit today (we’re coming back tomorrow!) by grabbing a park-seat in Marshall Park and soaking up the Sun for half-an-hour. Then it was off to top-up the car with petrol before heading off to our FINAL bed for the night in New Zealand

2.12pm: Here we are at the Arrowfield Apartments.

Crikey! This is nothing short of a mansion! We’re totally impressed!! Scott, the owner, was there when we arrived and gave us a quick tour. We were soon settling in – and spreading out to make the place look full!!! 😀😀

We’re totally impressed with this latest accommodation! 👍👍

Ann’s cooking tonight, so that’s an extra treat! 😍😍

Driving in New Zealand – From Te Anau to Arrowtown
The N94, N97 and N6 (194km/121 miles)

Road Name: N94, N97 and N6
Condition: Very smooth
Lanes: Single with passing places
Terrain: Long stretches of very straight sections but with VERY hilly parts both up and down
Scenery: Dramatic! Mountains/Forests/Lakes
Filling Stations: 2
Roadworks: 1, but a lengthy stop
Driver Courtesy: Everyone seemed to obey the speed limit and no-one was in a hurry
Speed Limits: 80-100km/h
Police/Speed cameras: None!
Total distance: 194 kilometres/121 miles
Total distance since we picked up the car: 2750 kilometres/1700 miles

Tomorrow, after 24 days, it’s our last full day here in New Zealand. We plan to explore more of Arrowtown including the local Museum.

Sleep well! 💤💤