Cromwell - Fruit Bowl of New Zealand

After Dunedin, I ended up in the small town of Cromwell in Central Otago, mainly to meet up with the Stray Bus again. I arrived with no great expectations - and was not disappointed.

Unless you want to work on a plantation, there's not much to do here - mainly because the region is known for its fruit orchards.

Originally, Cromwell was the connecting point between Queenstown, Wanaka, and Dunedin. Then gold was discovered, and the town experienced its golden age.
But after all the gold had been fished out of the rivers, Cromwell needed a different industry: fruit cultivation.

To this day, Cromwell and the surrounding area are known as the 'fruit bowl of New Zealand'. Numerous apple, cherry, pear, and vine plantations have been established on the mountainside, where poor backpackers now toil away.

One expression of this love is the 13-meter-high fruit sculpture in the town, which is a popular photo motif.

Other than that, you can stroll through the heart of the town: the mall. The original center sank into the lake when a dam was built, and all the shops were relocated to this one small street.
What remains of the old downtown can still be visited today.

What else can you do in Cromwell?
There is a long hiking/cycling trail along Lake Dunstan and the Kawarau Arm. I walked for an hour in each direction. But the sun was scorching down on the land, so I lost the desire to stay outside any longer.

And that's it.

That was Cromwell.

Nice, small, perfect for relaxing.
Tomorrow, I'll continue with a full schedule - Mt Cook!