A picture postcard round every corner

 
November 11th

Wednesday – and another long drive, over the Lindis Pass, through Cromwell – famed for fruit growing, and where we stopped to sample its fresh fruit ice-cream – and through the dramatic Kawarau gorge.. The Kawarau suspension bridge is the site of NZ’s first bungy jump, and our tour leader Paul offered us the chance to jump before heading to Queenstown for a lunch stop. I think he was surprised when Sandy, a 40-something mum (and adventurer) from Long Island, took up the challenge. I wasn’t, she seems pretty fearless to me. But when Tony – at 76, the oldest member of our group – found out that pensioners could jump for free, he was right behind her. Tony is pure Brooklyn – with the voice of Jimmy Cagney and the legs of Lance Armstrong.. The man thinks nothing of 100 mile cycles every weekend! I had an adrenalin rush just watching them plunge headfirst towards the river! But if that looked scary, we found out there is a drop 3 times as high and over rocks rather than water in Queenstown. Don’t think I’ll be doing that one either.

Queenstown is the centre of NZ’s activity holidays – a winter base for skiing, and summer for mountain biking. And at any time of the year you can throw yourself off a ledge, out of a plane or over river rapids. It’s also outstandingly beautiful, overlooking Lake Wakatipu and the surrounding mountain range. But our journey continued on – heading towards Fiordland in the south west of the country. Our base for the evening was Lake Manoupouri, our furthest point south on the trip, and yet another awesome view. And as it’s still light at 9.30pm here, we had plenty of time to wander round the “town” – a café, hairdressers and garage – to take a look at the harbour, lake beach, and read about the hydro electric scheme – which is tunnelled to a turbine in the mountain, rather than flooding the valley. Clever stuff.

The landscape of the South Island is quite different to the north – and so is the climate. It’s freezing! I may be gathering “heavy” tags on my luggage, but thank god I brought all those layers! Whereas North Island from the air had the green lushness of Ireland, the mountain region of South Island is dryer and dustier, with more scrub and shrubland. Driving along the roads the colours switch from bright yellow broom, to lavender thyme and wild lupins of every hue. Coupled with the blue skies, snowcapped peaks and glacial blue lakes and rivers, it’s an outstanding combination. And there are few vehicles or people to interrupt the view. The total population of NZ is 4.5 million (far fewer than the 40 million sheep here) and only 1 million live on South Island – a third of those in Christchurch. South Island is the size of England – which should give you some idea of the sense of space you have here.