Queenstown and Beyond

We'd been warned about Queenstown by various people – it's brash, loud, busy and a real party town – not the sort of place we'd like! We tried to avoid it but in the end just had to go there to sort out a few activities, including the white-water rafting that we didn't want to miss. What no-one told us, is that its setting is one of the most beautiful in the world.

It's on a lakeside, but the lake twists and turns and there are magnificent mountains in every direction. There's even a range called the Remarkables, and they really are. They had the benefit of a light dusting of snow when we arrived. We had two hours to spare before we needed to be in the centre of town for our rafting trip, so we parked the car (easily and cheaply) strolled into town, eyed up the gear shops, stopped for a coffee and fell in love with the place before turning up for our rafting trip.

The rafting was brilliant -lots of fun and fairly adrenaline inducing, although in retrospect we wondered how much of the 'safety' instruction was just hype. We're convinced that by far the most dangerous aspect of the trip was the bus ride to the start along Skipper's Canyon, a gravel road cut into the cliff face and just wide enough for our bus and raft trailer. We had a S African bus boy who was a real wit. Here's an example :

Bus boy: “Where you from?”

Us: “England”

Bus boy: “I'm sorry?”

Us: “England”

Bus boy: “Yeah, I heard you, I just said I was sorry!”

Here's another:

Bus boy: “Driving the bus today will be Shirley, one of our most experienced drivers. Shirley is actually going to be leaving us tomorrow and we are all going to miss her a lot”

Sucker on bus: “How long has she been with you?

Bus boy: “ Three days”

Anyway, we enjoyed the whole experience and managed not to fall in, and we're really looking forward to returning to Queenstown!

The next day we set of to start a 3-day tramp on the famous Routeburn track. It was only a 3-4 hour walk to the first hut, so there was no hurry to start. We set off at lunchtime in glorious sunshine and arrived 3 hours later at the hut in sunshine. Ian went to investigate a fantastic viewpoint with a view down the valley that he had been told about. Apparently this was another 250m above the hut and could be found by following a goat track; Maggie enjoyed an hour in the sun!

Looking back down the Routeburn Valley

The second day dawned with an ominous red sunrise.

Red sky in the morning........

Our route involved a climb to the Harris Saddle and a further climb without rucksacks to 'Conical Peak' – with views not to be missed!

The summit of Conical Hill - our high point

Four hours later we arrived shattered at Mackenzie Hut. This one had a wood-burning stove, so Ian was in his element lighting it and keeping it going. The huts are fairly rudimentary, offering shelter, a mattress and gas for cooking -you still need to bring your sleeping bag, food, cooking pans etc.

A dorm inside the Mackenzie Hut

The final day dawned with rain and wind (we knew that the forecast was diabolical but the hut booking system on the Great Walks does not allow for second thoughts) , and after breakfast we set off fully clad in wet weather gear. It was only a 4-hour walk to where we hoped our car would be waiting! The walk was wet and our gear showed its inadequacies, but it was quite exciting crossing some of the un-bridged streams. We passed several cascades running down the mountainside, and one very spectacular waterfall. Unfortunately, having already wrecked one camera in the rain, we were reluctant to risk another one!

At length we arrived at the Howden Hut, just an hour from our final destination, but for some that we'd been walking with, this was their stop for that night. It was already full of very wet people travelling in both directions along the route. These DOC huts don't have any facilities for drying wet gear – they're barely more than a shelter really, and we were glad we weren't sleeping there.

We finally arrived at the car park and were delighted to see our car. We then drove the final 33km to Milford Sound where we were able to spend the night in extreme comfort ( indoors, showers and bed!) and celebrated by drinking our expensive 'Maggie's Block' Pinot Gris bought in Nelson.

We now have a couple of easy days in store, cruising around Milford Sound and Doubtful Sound before getting back to Queenstown for our final tourist thrill - a jet boat excursion on the Dart River.