The last 24 hours have been a roller coaster. Yesterday I was anxious about going out on my own and a bit sad about leaving my group after our farewell dinner. I can hardly believe how much we did and how good we were together. The best parting gift was when Martin, who knows a lot about technology and cameras, was able to get my wide angle lens working when no one else in NZ could.
This morning we went to Arrowtown. It is a gentrified old mining town and also where they filmed the scene of the horseman getting drowned by the flood in Lord of the Rings. There was free time to shop or explore and we walked along the river trying to figure out where they might have built a dam to control the water flow for the scene. There was a good bakery and I bought some bread for my journey then we sat on a bench and talked and fed crumbs to the birds. It was a happy relaxed way to end the trip and later at the airport there were big hugs when I left them.
The tour buses have discovered Arrowtown
There are still an incredible number of cyclist doing this west coast route. No shoulder, huge, never ending climbs and this one is barely loaded compared to most of them
The Dominican Nuns came to Arrowtown during the gold rush and this one is still here, well not that she was here in the gold rush days, but she was lovely.
This is the home of one of the first nun's who became named a saint
A lot of craftsmanship and trendy shops here
This is the way the Scottish settlers made rock walls, kept the animals from jumping over
This was the last shop of the Chinese man who supplied miners during the gold rush
This is where the horseman in Lord of the Rings got flooded out when Frodo was almost dead
Getting the car was easy and after seeing all the construction and confusion leading into the airport I decided to get a GPS. Brilliant move. It is going to make driving much less stressful. Although the lady at the desk suggested I might want to take the longer, easier route to Wanaka my GPS thought we should go over the mountains and I’m so glad I once again took the road less travelled. There were a spectacular series of switchbacks up to the top of the pass. I wasn’t nervous, there wasn’t much traffic and my biggest challenge was learning to hug the centre line and not drift onto the edge, the inside edge. When I got to the top I felt like the whole world was opening up in front of me. The valley was so beautiful. It was raining lightly on and off and I don’t think the pictures do it justice, at least not justice to the way I felt. Any concerns about travelling on my own have disappeared.
This is the view on the other side of the divide on the way down
The drive down and onto Wanaka was easy, no trucks or tour busses to worry about. My GPS took me right to my accommodation. I found a great grocery store and there was a fruit vendor selling cherries. I am so happy to have my own food I think I will be living on fruit, soups, salads and cheese while I wear off two weeks of buffets. I rested then walked along the bay. Wanaka is a very pretty, very small town. After I got back to the hotel there was an unexpectedly lovely sunset but with almost 20,000 steps I just enjoyed it from the balcony. Hopefully tomorrow will clear for the drive to Fox Glacier.
This sculpture is called The Nurturing Hand. Done to illustrate the NZ spirit of strength, kindness and reaching out to help others.
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