Lake Wakatipu

We had a bit of a leisurely start this morning as Bruce wasn’t feeling too great yesterday, but he seems to have bounced back today. However, we wanted to start moving north, so after walking the dogs along the lake front we headed on our way out of town.

As we were doing so Bruce spied this wedding chapel that would have 360 degree views, so we had to stop for a closer look. Apparently it is owned by a hotel there especially for the use of its guests. Looked kinda cute though.

After a quick look we moved on, heading towards Queenstown. We headed inland and to start off with, the land surrounding us could have been the Waikato. It was green pasture land with no evidence of  irrigation until we started getting closer to the hills. Then within the space of a kilometer, the land surrounding us started looking more alpine again – rocks and tussock becoming quite predominant.

We passed the little towns of Mossburn and Castlerock, but missed Lumsden altogether. It was a bit unusual but we could not find anywhere for a coffee along the way.

Our first glimpse of Lake Wakatipu was magical.  I am not sure why  we did not call in to  Kingston, as it looked very inviting from a distance, but we sailed past it. It has been a calm and sunny day today so that made the Lake look mirror-like.

We kept stopping off for  photos, competing with the usual tourists. I was going through the photos last night when I realised I had captured the image of a tourist defeacating behind a rock at the lake’s edge. I wish they would go and soil their own country!

We thought we would try for a coffee out by the airport in Queenstown, but the place is absolutely crazily busy and there was nowhere to stop. Bruce had fond memories of the world’s best flat breads served by the lakeside in Queenstown but that memory was not to be be re-visited.

We had decided that we would freedom camp on the side of the lake between Queenstown and Glenorchy so we headed off to find one. That took us a long time for two reasons – firstly we still had to keep stopping because of the amazing views; and secondly, the local council had obviously revisited the rules around where freedom camping is permitted, and there were lots of lovely spots where no camping signs had been erected.

We finally came to a little area that was permitted, and right next to the lake. We were thrilled to be spending the night there, and the dogs would love it.