KINGSTON to WANAKA

SUNDAY, 10th NOVEMBER.

It was a grey start to the day, 10 degrees when we left Kingston at 9.30a.m., doing a drive through town before starting the drive of around 40kms along Lake Wakatipu to Queenstown.  We stopped when we could to take photos and when we couldn't stop, took them from the car and hoped for the best.

                                              

One stop was a picnic spot, with 3 picnic tables and a lawn, maintained by local residents 

It was a lovely drive, with plenty of twists and turns and when we reached Queenstown, we got caught up in the traffic, but it was worse for those leaving the town as there was a  queue which must have been at least 3kms long.  We didn't stay, too crowded for us and we headed for Coronet Peak, with a stop at the Shotover River Jetboat Headquarters.   Luckily for us, the jets were not working today as the river was too high so there were very few people about.  We headed for the Cafe at the Canyon Brewery for coffee, sat aside in the thin sunshine, then wandered around the grounds 

The Edith Cavell Bridge 

                                                         The Canyon Brewery & Cafe

then drove to the Coronet Peak Road for the very wriggly drive to the top, with wonderful views on the way up

at the Peak

and on the way down

We hoped to find a cafe in Arrowtown where we could have a bite to eat but no chance.  The town was absolutely choc-a-bloc, no parking spots to be found, all the cafes we passed were full, there was a fete or similar in progress on one open space and hundreds of mountain bikes on another, so after a drive through of some of the back streets, we left.  A shame, Arrowtown looked to be such a nice place and we'd have liked to spend a little time there.  We were soon back on the main road which led us twisting & turning through the mountains to Wanaka, once again stopping for the views when we could, and taking drive by photos when we couldn't stop.

Before checking into the holiday park for tonight, we did a little tour of the town, it too was chokkers!  The weekends are not the best time to visit tourist places and we try to avoid them, but we have to be somewhere.  Hopefully, we'll be able to have a better look tomorrow before we leave.  

It was a lovely day, topped off with an excellent Tapas, beer and wine dinner at the Lake Bar.  I think that about half the people who were in the town when we arrived are now in the Holiday Park with us!