New Zealand October-November 2022 Trip report

[Grifdog22]

continued

Our bus driver Rod awaiting our return and transport





Orcs hill, for LOTR fans...









We also walked about in Glenorchy, a beautiful place. There was also a very moving WWI memorial here, as this small Town lost an extraordinary number of people.

 

[Grifdog22]

Wednesday November 9, 2022 ABD Day 12 continued

The horses were quite large! A stepladder was used by most to get onto these patient calm animals. One young lady with us commented that on this large animal, she felt like a hobbit. This location, of course, was also featured in Lord of the Rings where the hobbits are fleeing the Orks into the river. LOTR trivia – we learned that rugby players were cast as the Orcs in this scene because of their size and ability to wear the heavy costumes.












This was not the usual Disney horse ride where the horses’ nose is in the tail of the horse in front at a snail’s pace. While we were asked to guide these them single file, we did spread out a bit and walk at a good pace through the pasture, into the bush and through beautiful blooming lupines, which were everywhere in Glenorchy.




And we “Darted” along the riverbed, including multiple crossings of the river’s braids. In one spot the water was quite deep – up to the edges of our boots- and the horses were moving hard and fast to get back up onto the gravel bars. It was an excellent guided adventure!

We rejoined our compatriots as we cheered each other for a day well lived, and folks settled back to just enjoy the scenery for the return to Queenstown.

 

[Grifdog22]

continued

Once back in Queenstown, Grifdogs headed into town for ice cream, and wandered the Town a bit as we were not hungry after the snack. Ruh Roh. Restaurants filled, and we found little availability. Victoria, our local guide, had strongly recommended folks secure reservations. Should have listened! After an hour or so of being turned away at a few places we stopped into an Asian restaurant (White and Wong) recommended by our guide Kira, and they had an event starting in about 20 minutes for 100 people and weren’t seating people. They saw our hungry eyes and probably heard our growling tummies, and said just sit at the bar and order from the regular menu, another example of wonderful New Zealand hospitality. Best Asian food we’ve had. The appetizer alone would have fed both of us a full meal. Highly recommend them. We were in and out before the event in the restaurant started.

One place Victoria recommended that didn’t need reservations was a local burger place called Fergburger. It is very popular and instragram-famous for their wide variety of burgers available. After also wandering the town a bit, Mathmagicland decided to try them out; while the waits can be quite long as it gets later into the evening, it wasn’t bad at all (maybe 15 minutes) at 5:30pm. The Grifdogs tried this the following night in their post day and sat at the harbor's edge to enjoy them. The burgers were huge! Quite good, and the fries were good also.

We watched the darkness fall from our hotel room and soon found ourselves deeply asleep, still grinning from ear to ear.

Sunset from the hotel room

 

[Eastridge]

Thanks for the description of the horseback riding! We didn't get to do that activity on our trip

 

[Mathmagicland]

Day 13 – Wakatipu Wonders

Today is a bittersweet day – we are excited for another full day of fun in NZ, but a bit sad as this is our last full AbD day with our group. No time to be too sad, as we have lots of things happening today.

First up – we hop on the bus for a short drive over to Arrowtown, a gold rush town across the valley from Queenstown. On the way, we cross a bridge over the Shotover River canyon.



We arrived in Arrowtown shortly after 09:00 a.m. We’ll have about an hour to explore the town, before our e-bike ride to Gibbston Valley Winery. A few shops have opened early. We feel a bit rushed, as while this is a small town, there are several different things to see & not a lot of time to do so. We can walk around some original cottages and buildings; shop along the main street, take a walk on a trail along the river, or visit the old Chinese miners settlement. Our group scatters in several different directions.

Grifdog22 and DW set off in the Town. We found it to be the best shopping experience of the trip. The stores were full of things at very reasonable prices. We had planned on having a matching set of jade somethings for all of our family members, which each to rotate wearing one for a week to imbibe the family love (The Māori tell this story in such a great way). We felt this was the place for the best quality and pricing. We also could talk to the craftsman and have him explain what he had done. In this instance what we bought was all from the same stone. There was not a lot of time, and we ran out before we felt like we had started, but on to the next adventure.









Continued in next post -

 

[Mathmagicland]

Day 13- continued -

Mathmagicland set off to try to see as much of the town as possible in our short visit. She managed to see some of the old miner cottages and historical buildings, now used as homes or businesses; take a short walk down the main street to see some of the original businesses; and explore the old Chinese settlement.

Street & old miner cottages -









Original buildings in town - post office, pharmacy, and the bank with beautiful window signage -









Note the bars behind the glass -





And the original police camp building from 1863 -




Continued in the next post -

 

[Mathmagicland]

Day 13 continued - the old Chinese settlement - hard to believe people lived in some of these cottages, they were so small and rustic.

The signage is all in English, Maori, and Chinese. I happened to be there the same time as a Chinese tour group. They were quite excited to see the Chinese language signage included here.














Some dwellings were built into the side of the mountain -








Continued in next post -

 

[Mathmagicland]

Day 13 - continued -

We met back as a group and headed over to pick up our e-bikes. Our bike hosts had several bikes available, and there was a large grassy area for us to try them out & get a bit comfortable, before we headed out on the trail.

We were split into two groups. The first group headed out; we were in the second group. The first part of the trail was mostly gravel and dirt, along the Arrow River, with some slight hills and a few turns; it seemed a bit like mountain-biking. We were able to go at speeds comfortable for us and walk the bikes when we felt we needed to do so. There was a bike guide at the front and Victoria our AbD local guide at the back of our group. We stopped at points along the way, both for rest and to allow folks to catch up. At one point, we crossed a narrow bridge; some rode cross, others walked their bikes across. Mathmagicland made it across by walking…it was a bit nervous, but thankfully the bridge was steady and not moving. Grifdog found the biking a welcome bit of challenge and invigorating. DW did not.



Shortly after crossing this bridge, we stopped to chat about the rest of the ride. It would be over narrower, steeper paths, with a couple of much higher and less stable suspension bridges. We had a choice – end the ride now and take a van to the end of the trail by the bungee bridge, or continue the ride. If we continued & then decided we didn’t want to ride further, the choices would be to keep going or else come back to this point. Needless to say, Mathmagicland took the option of the van ride to the end point. Grifdog22 DW also decided to take the van option. We were both glad we did so – several in our groups commented at the end that Mathmagicland would not have liked the rest of the trail!



The second bridge, which Mathmagicland and GrifdogDW did not cross!



The final bridge to cross was the bungee bridge -




Continued in next post -

 

[Mathmagicland]

Day 13 - continued -

While Grifdog DW and Mathmagicland waited for the groups to finish their ride, we took some pictures around the bungee bridge –









Several very strong cables to keep this bridge steady -









And, at the bungee bridge, we saw the best bathroom signs ever!





Continued in the next post -

 

[Mathmagicland]

Day 13 - continued -

After everyone crossed the bungee bridge & had some time to rest, we headed to the Gibbston Valley Winery for lunch, followed by a tour of the winery and some wine tasting. Lunch was a delicious buffet with lots of food. After lunch, we had time to explore the winery grounds for a bit before our tour of the winery. We then headed into the wine cave, to learn about their wines and do some tasting.



A lot of wine barrels in the cave -



There were three wines available for tasting. We also saw their wine vault, where they had sample wines from their batches going back to the start of the winery. It was dusty, with a few cobwebs, and felt like it would fit right in to the Haunted Mansion! Our guide said these special wines were brought out for events such as special guests or employee gatherings.









We got back to the hotel around 3pm, and had a couple of hours before we had to meet up for our evening farewell dinner. Some folks stayed at the hotel, others headed to town for some last-minute shopping or to hit the ATM for NZ dollars for local guide gratuities.

Continued in next post -

 

[Mathmagicland]

Day 13 - continued -

For our farewell dinner, we walked down to the dock to board the 1912 vintage steamship TSS Earnslaw, for a trip to Walter Peak Station, a former farm and sheep ranch that still runs sheep but also shares rural Kiwi life.



Our group had a reserved seating area on the ship, though we were free to walk around while we sailed. The boat was very well built and themed. The artwork on the walls was nautical in nature, and even the light fixtures reflected being on the open water. Grifdog spent a lot of time in the engine room watching the stokers shovel coal into the boiler, and the pistons move about with steam leaking everywhere. He also found the coal bunkers on the ship for loading the coal. He did not sit still much on the trip either way, as there was much to explore and do.




Once we arrived at the farm, we went with our own farm guide to see some of the animals and also see a sheep dog herding demonstration.













We headed up to a house, for dinner -



We had a private room for dinner, which was a large buffet with several delicious items. Desserts were wonderful, as well! Kira and Victoria had prepared a fun slide show from our two weeks together, which was a lot of fun to see. And, because this was November10, the day before our Veteran’s Day, we also recognized the veterans in our group with a Thank You for their service.

The steamship headed back to Queenstown after dinner, and we walked back to the hotel. Most of us were heading for home the next day, but a few were staying over a day to go to Milford Sound before heading back home the following day. So, we said our goodbyes in the lobby before heading back to our rooms for the evening. It was a great group of people, and a wonderful adventure!


Next day – departures or Milford Sound

 

[sayhello]

I have to admit, it's really fun seeing this *after* I've done the trip! There's just something about recognizing places and things because you've *been* there!

Were you three the only ones that didn't continue the ebike ride?

Sayhello

 

[Mathmagicland]

I have to admit, it's really fun seeing this *after* I've done the trip! There's just something about recognizing places and things because you've *been* there!

Were you three the only ones that didn't continue the ebike ride?

Sayhello

I’m reliving this trip through your reports also!

It was only grifdogDW and me who did not do the second half of the ebike ride. Everyone else did the whole ride across all three bridges.

 

[sayhello]

I’m reliving this trip through your reports also!

It was only grifdogDW and me who did not do the second half of the ebike ride. Everyone else did the whole ride across all three bridges.

Half of our group of 40 didn't do the ebike ride at all! I don't know if any of the ones who started didn't do the 2nd half.

Sayhello

 

[rnorwo1]

I just read the entire report. What amazing pictures, and your descriptions are so rich. Thanks for taking the time to do this!

 

[Grifdog22]

I just read the entire report. What amazing pictures, and your descriptions are so rich. Thanks for taking the time to do this!

thank you! travel is nearly always fun, whether OYO or with the various travel companies out there. This country however IMO is simply magestical and amazing in all aspects. Leslie and I just had to share it. no matter how you go-go while you are still able. it was the first time in years i relaxed and quit worrying about the massive failures of humanity. we will survive, if only on this special island. Six months after this trip having taken another since, i can’t stop raving about New Zealand.

 

[Mathmagicland]

Day 14 – Haere Ra

Today, as our AbD Adventure comes to an end, our group is scattering many different directions. Some are staying an extra day to visit Milford Sound today; Grifdog22 will share all about that experience. Most of the rest of us are heading home; we have various pick-up times to get us to the airport.

For me, my flight from Queenstown to Auckland is scheduled for 3pm, so I’ve got a free morning in Queenstown and have scheduled a private tour of the area to see more Lord of the Rings filming sites. A lot of scenes were filmed around here, for both LOTR and The Hobbit trilogies. While we saw a small bit during our horseback and jet boat day, I’ll see even more filming sites today.

On the way, we were on a higher road and passed the bungee bridge we’d biked across yesterday, for a more overall view perspective.



Some areas we see are very rural – we were not on paved roads.



Yes, we did drive through the Arrow River to continue our journey into this back country behind Arrowtown to a filming location.



This is a panorama of the entire Gibbston Valley – showing places we visited on the last couple of days of our AbD. Far left is Arrowtown, the lush green fields and grape vines of the Gibbston Valley, and very far to the right we can just see Queenstown peaking out in the draw at the far upper right of the valley.



Another shot of the valley -



Continued in next post -

 

[Mathmagicland]

Day 14 - continued -

We then went into the back country, on a single-lane gravel road with a few very narrow turnouts to allow for passing. It was kind of strange to see the brown, after so much green for two weeks. New Zealand is truly a diverse country!



I couldn’t believe how quickly this bus was traveling on such a narrow road! It was coming back from dropping people off for a rafting adventure at the bottom of this valley.



Here we can see where the mountain was cut through to make the road deep down into this valley.



And, a final panorama of beautiful New Zealand and the Queenstown area.



When I got back to the hotel, it was time to collect my luggage and board the van to head to the airport; there were six of us on this van, including AbD guide Kira. Since the next AbD was not until mid-December, over a month away, she was heading home as well.

Our flight to Auckland was delayed a bit, but we had enough of a cushion between flights that we had time to make the walk (not run) to the international terminal. Since this is late spring, there were not yet a lot of travelers, so we had an easy time through the immigration and security to get to our flight with little wait. And, as I mentioned at the start of this thread, there’s a wonderful Whittakers Chocolate shop in the airport, which has every type of item they sell, perfect for picking up some chocolate to take home. After security in Auckland is also the place to hit the duty free shops and pick up the Manuka honey, if you don’t want to pack it or have it confiscated (as honey is considered a liquid).

My non-stop flight to LA was long but uneventful, and since LA was my last stop, I didn’t have to go through transit customs & luggage transfer. It was good to be home, but I could have stayed longer, as New Zealand is wonderful!

Grifdog22 is up next to finish up this report, with their post-ABD Milford Sound adventures.

 

[CaliforniaGirl09]

Really enjoying the trip report. Looks like a fabulous trip.