You guessed it: What was good about the stupid rain clouds were the snow-covered mountain peaks afterwards!!! And that in the middle of summer! We consider ourselves lucky little mushrooms.
Granted, it's not A LOT of snow, but we're still excited.
The landscape looks twice as beautiful. Perfect time for a hike up a mountain in Queenstown, where you can overlook the city and the lake:
+++++ Queenstown Hill ++++++
Most people take the cable car up. Not us! We have to train our lazy muscles again...
The path up the mountain leads through beautiful pine forest. Here, there are - of course, we are in Queenstown - also outdoor activities like zip-lining, where people slide down on a wire between the trees. In the background, one of the stations from which you can start the zip lines: Not so low! We prefer to walk :D Mountain Biking = Fun sport, so of course there are special paths reserved for the cyclists: We encountered these guys almost at the top. Something similar is known as 'summer toboggan run' in the Harz Mountains ;) Arrived at the top! It should have only taken an hour, but since there was a busy (and very precise) camerawoman (who loves the forest) with us, it took closer to one and a half hours... In this restaurant, we had a reward meal: And meanwhile, an amazing view!(Notice the slightly snow-covered mountain peaks in the distance, hehehehhe. Very pretty.) Thanks to the cool air and the strong sun, it feels like being in a lodge in a ski resort. From up here, you can see what we have experienced down below many times: Traffic jams. The infrastructure in Queenstown is really not adapted to the amount of tourists. There is also a fancy restaurant up here: Very pretty view, indeed!If you follow the road to the right of the lake and beyond, you will already see where we went on our next trip: +++++++++ Glenorchy ++++++++ In the north of the snake-shaped Lake Wakatipu, there is a landscape called 'Paradise'. The last place before Paradise is Glenorchy. Whether the landscape behind it would be everyone's paradise, we don't know, but it was definitely worth a trip for 2 days. Just driving along the lake again was of course spectacular: (Snow on the peaks!) Glenorchy itself is a tiny little village. Here, there are only one or two cafes, a few postcards and camping sites. And a hiking trail, which we unfortunately did in scorching sun: Anette wears the hat not against the cold, but as sun protection. After a while, we added more sun protection measures: Behind Glenorchy, you can drive a bit further into the hinterland on normal and later on gravel roads, which is called 'Paradise'. Basically, it's nothing more than a large river delta surrounded by beautiful mountains. We arrived just in time for the sunset between the mountains and stayed overnight here. It's very convenient with a campervan :) The view from the window the next morning: We also wandered around a bit right next to the sleeping spot, where... Ta-daaa: A scene from The Lord of the Rings was filmed! More precisely, this is the forest 'Fangorn', where the tree creatures (Ents) lived: The little 'Fantails' follow you step by step, hoping to catch scared insects: Mushroom. A fluffy ball with a beak. The way back was a bit adventurous... the water is quite cold! And then we went even deeper into Paradise, further north between the mountains. As far as (by car) possible... Awesome blue!! (and cold) By car, there is no further way up. We are now here: Unfortunately, the fjord landscapes cannot be reached by car from here, you have to drive further south (to Te Anau, where we're going next). But here, there's a nice little lake where we spent half a day. To get there, you have to cross a suspension bridge... ...through a beautiful birch forest... ...past traps for small mammals that don't belong here (i.e., all)... ...and then you're at LakeSylvan. We even found a little private beach: This time, the camerawoman personally went in. Here, we were visited by a cute bird. But it wasn't waiting for scared insects, but for mild gifts from the strange, naked bipeds. Who'd have thought that a little bit of fluffing up can make such a difference in the look!? (Same bird) If you go through the forest to the lake, you also have to go through it to get out... ...but not without a fitness test along the way. At this place, there used to be tracks, probably for gold mining. Apart from this rusty axle and a few wooden beams of the tracks, not much remains. Up in these beautiful mountains, there is also a hiking trail, which was a bit too intense for us... instead, we'll soon hike another multi-day track further south - but more about that in the next post. Another night in 'Paradise'... We think there are definitely uglier sleeping spots. :P ... and then it was enough. Back on the road! See you next time, folks!HanNZette.
