Queenstown and Arrowtown

We travelled from Te Anau to Queenstown through ever beautiful landscapes in brilliant sunshine yet again - we have been so lucky this week. Queenstown is a larger centre, but is a very attractive, vibrant and cheerful place, along the side of beautiful Lake Wakatipu. A range of mountains called The Remarkables are a stunning backdrop to the lake. Our hotel room window (at The Heritage) overlooks both the lake and these mountains.

Our first day in Queenstown has been a restful one with a trip out to the old gold mining settlement at Arrowtown and a trip on the TSS Earnslaw, a steamer dating from 1912 which plies across the lake to Walter Peak, a high country farm. There we saw sheep shearing and had delicious tea and cakes, overlooking the lake in the sunshine. The steamer preserves its early 20th century charm and there was even a pianist on deck so people could sing along as they might have done 100 years ago.

Arrowtown is delightful place, set in a quiet valley with a feel not unlike that of an attractive New England village - lots of greenery, clapper board houses and the like. It was once the centre of the gold rush with many Chinese workers brought in to help. When the peak of the gold rush moved elsewhere, it became a sleepy place with a large Chinese population. Today the shops and small cafes there cater for the tourist but it is unspoilt and has a distinct character that photos do not convey too well. The remains of the separate Chinese settlement are still there and some of the homes of the early Chinese miners have been restored. The photo shows three of these set into the hillside.

Outside the hotel in Queenstown I noticed another nice bug - a 45mm long longhorn beetle called a huhu.