The Queenstown Journey - Part 4

What to do now with only one day and so much choice. I know; I'll hire a car and go see the bungy jumping etc. One firm advertised a hire for $15, that is 5 GDP. (Please not that I am using a NZ keyboard.) After enquiries, not one car was available. So, jump on a 'Connectabus', get a return to Arrow Town and go. A 'Connectabus' is a regular service bus, however these have piped video music and lots of tourist leaflets. We actually purchased a day tripper ticket which was cheaper than a return.

So, why Arrow Town? Answer; we has heard that it was interesting place to visit. We travelled passed Lake Hawes and there was a magnificent reflection of the mountains behind it on the mill pond surface. Lesson - take the opportunity when you can - reflections don't last forever. At Arrow Town the bus pulled up in a large parking area overlooking the Arrow River and below the town.

First thing - explore the town. The town had a very wild west appearance along its main street and some of the buildings were of great historical interest going back to the gold rush days. The town suddenly came into existance when alluvial gold was found and Europeans, American and Chinese descended on the place. Each man staked his claim along the Arrow and the Western women did their best to look after their children and recreate civilised home life. Out of town the Chinese men set up their own camp consiting of stone huts with corrogated tin roofs. There was a difference of motives between the Chinese and the Westerners. The Westerners were settlers the Chinese had come because of the hard conditions they faced at home. Gaining wealth was life and their desire was always to return home. (There is little prejudice today, but I think that this feeling NZ being home for some and opportunity for others still clouds relationships between different people groups in this country.)

I forgot to mention that a tourist raised an interesting question on the journey yesterday. (Not the one about why all the sheep are going in one direction. To which the answer was 'one of them started to move, the others just followed.) No I mean the question about whether NZ Europeans had treated the Maoris better than the Australians had treated the Aboriginals. The answer had to be yes, but there was a sad confession that New Zealanders could have done better than just providing hand outs, which have repurcussions for today's Maori relationships.

Back to Arrow Town. On one of the Streets outside a very well kept colonial style store was a beautiful vintage car. There were other vintage cars and a scattering of cones. Across the road white strips of plastic had been laid. When we returned we found a film crew has taken over, the white strips were being pressed into the road surface to become a pedestrian crossing. By the way it is easy to recreate a crossing beacon. Most of the ones in NZ are large, orange plastic discs on to of a black and white painted pole.

A film set in the making. The car has a plastic pedestrian cossing strip over it.

After lunch we explored the Chines gold miner's camp and then went to find the Arrow river. There was not much water to see. Most of the bed was dry. But, there were noitices on some paths telling trampers to keep out when it is raining; suggesting that the river may fill very rapidly in the wet season.

Thatched homes in the Chinese mining camp

On request the bus dropped us off at Lake Hawes. This was a remote spot with no bus stop, but the hope that there would be another one in an hour and that it would stop on request and take us home. Of course the reflection had gone, but we had an enjoyable walk. The next bus did pick us up and we returned to our appartment.

To finish our time in Queenstown we did an after tea walk in the gardens. The had got up along the shore, but the gardens were sheltered and quite lovely. There were also mysterious objects scattered around. Can you guess what they are?

The Remarkables Overlooking the Town Gardens

What is this?

This ended our time in Queenstown. The service bus took us back to the airport. We waited leisurely for the plane. On the way home I had a very good conversation with a young English man on a working visa. Having discussed the universe and everything through a much more turbulent journey (At one point the pilot announced that coffee would not be seved, then it was, with disasterous consequences after which the cabin crew put lids on our cups.) we made a smooth landing in Auckland to a pleasant, sunny day.