Eastbound to Dunedin
Friday morning, March 3, 2023.
I’m riding the InterCity bus from Queenstown, New Zealand to Dunedin on the South Island’s east coast. It’s a four-and-a-half hour trip. And the bus doesn’t have a toilet.
What do passengers do when they get the urge?
Fortunately the bus allows for two pit stops. One is at Cromwell. This stop has a decorative wall. Photo from Google:
Farther down the road we have a longer break at Lawrence, which has public toilets as well as a convenient convenience store.
This particular store, Night ‘n Day, is part of a nationwide chain, the equivalent to America’s Seven-Elevens. I bought some fried fish for lunch, and they offered two patties of hashbrowns for NZ $1.00. Who could resist that?
Presumably the store gets lots of business from all the bus stop traffic.
The bus passes through some gorgeous scenery with the road meandering through mountain valleys.
I sat on the right side of the coach. I thought it odd that the sun wasn’t shining through the windows on my side. Instead, it was shining through the windows on the left side. Why? Because New Zealand is below the equator, in the Southern Hemisphere. It was an interesting sensation, having lived in the Northern Hemisphere all my life.
The bus made one more stop at Dunedin’s International Airport, 28.3 km from Dunedin itself. We unloaded at the heart of the city, the InterCity bus stop at 331 Moray Place, Platform K, outside the Countdown Supermarket. It was shortly after 12:30 p.m., plenty of time to walk to my pre-booked lodgings and partake of a local attraction.
InterCity also offers a Queenstown-to-Dunedin afternoon run from 4:15 p.m. to 8:50 p.m.
Queenstown Sojourn
While in Queenstown I learned at least a couple things.
(1. Electrical outlets have switches. To get the electricity, you have to flip the switch.
Image from nzpocketguide.com
I found this out the hard way when I tried to recharge my cell phone overnight. I had purchased a new adapter and thought the problem was with it. No. I didn’t flip the switch. Which I learned from the pharmacy clerk, called “the chemist.” He was kind enough to recharge my cell phone while I walked around town for an hour. He offered to do it, and so, it was yet another example of Kiwi hospitality.
(2. Elevators are called “lifts.” And the ground floor is not considered the first floor. The next floor up from ground level is the second floor.
My trip to New Zealand would last a month, and throughout my travels, practically every place I stopped at had public restrooms. Here in Queenstown, they had a large facility near the lake:
No doubt Kiwis do have a sense of humor / humour with their labeling. More on this later.
Friday, March 3, 2023.
To travel by bus in New Zealand, one would ride the InterCity bus. Check their schedule for their times of service, pay for tickets beforehand (which I did at their Queenstown I-SITE location), and show up ahead of departure time. My next destination was Dunedin on the east coast. Their departure time was 8:00 a.m. It would be a five-hour drive.
Prior to that, I needed breakfast. But where? Most of the town’s businesses were closed at 7:00 in the morning. Who would be open at that time? McDonald’s! There was one on Camp Street, close to the bus stop. They were open 24 hours a day.
Sunrise was at 7:24 a.m. on March 3 in Queenstown, so it was still dark. Well, not quite so dark. Downtown, there were plenty of lights around as you can see here:
I still had time to swing by Fergbaker, which had opened at 6:00 a.m., and buy one of their delicious pastries. I then went to the wharf one last time to view the local wildlife. It astonished me that the local ducks, gulls and terns were so tame around humans.
As I was standing around watching, a duck spotted me and waddled close enough to touch.
I had been saving my pastry for later in the trip, but I broke off a corner and fed the duck. I think it made her happy. She stuck around for more.
She was joined by other hungry featherheads.
Before leaving the park, I had to get a couple shots of the Emu statue. Here’s one:
While in Queenstown, I noticed many of the businesses were closed from the Covid pandemic, even though the restrictions had been lifted in NZ. Why? Well, when NZ shut down, restaurants–who were largely dependent on tourist dollars–had to lay off their employees. The former employees found work elsewhere–and at higher wages. So when the Covid restrictions were lifted, restaurants needed their servers back. But those former employees remained with their new higher-paying jobs, so now there’s a labor shortage for restaurants, who offer minimal salaries.
Here’s a shot of some closed downtown businesses. On the mountaintop in the back is the Skyline gondola building.
I made it to the bus stop ahead of time. The driver signed me on, loaded my luggage, and shortly after 8:00, we took off for Dunedin.
The Shear Experience of Walter Peak Farm
Thursday, March 2, 2023.
On my second full day in Queenstown, New Zealand, I elected to visit Walter Peak High Country Farm, which is on the western shore of Lake Wakatipu. To get there, tourists take a steamboat trip on the TSS Earnslaw, a.k.a. “The Lady of the Lake.” The boat provides a snack bar, a pianist tickling the ivories, and a splendid view of the surrounding mountains.
Walter Peak offers an optional barbecue, so, to partake of the local Kiwi cuisine, I took the 11:00 a.m. trip. The ride lasts about 30 minutes. Here we are approaching the farm:
Here’s the view from the restaurant towards Queenstown:
The barbecue was presented buffet style, and prepaid by the ticket. Drinks were optional and one had to pay extra for those.
Next came the farm experience show, presented on a nearby stage. Here, the presenter shows the sheep prior to shearing. The roundup dog just lies there. He’s seen it all before.
Buzzzzzzzzz.
Finished.
The sheep is then placed in a small enclosure at the back of the stage.
In the second half of the presentation, a canopy opens up for a wider view of the hill where the flock is grazing, scattered about. The roundup dog corrals them down toward the stage area.
After the show, we boat back to Queenstown.
Here’s a downshot of the steam engine apparatus:
And a shot of the snack bar on the upper deck:
Entering Queenstown Bay, passing the Crowne Plaza Queenstown, with the Skyline Queenstown Gondola ride on the mountain.
The ship captain bids us a good day and we disembark after a fun trip.
Late that afternoon, I visit the Kiwi Park, next to the Skyline entrance. Alas, the Kiwis–being nocturnal birds–are kept in dark enclosures. No photography allowed. The park does have other interesting birds on display.
I return to my lodgings and thus ended my last full day in Queenstown.
The Dragon Prince and the Great Big Wave
We interrupt this New Zealand travelogue with another promotion from Wonderstorm: this impressive poster from Season Five of The Dragon Prince, coming this summer from Netflix. The image is called “The Wicked Depths.” I can believe it.
Look closely at the wave. There appears to be something … inside it. What could it be?
Click here for a look at earlier posters.
“The Eighth Most Dangerous Road in the World”
I found two companies in Queenstown that offered Lord of the Rings half-day tours: Nomad Safari and Pure Glenorchy. They scheduled an hour or hour-and-a-half break between the morning and afternoon trips.
I took Glenorchy’s tour in the morning, but both groups had already booked their afternoon jaunts. (See this previous post for details.) Nomad Safari did have another tour available that offered a LOTR filming site. This was the Skippers Canyon tour. Pure Glenorchy helped make the arrangement with Nomad–again, another example of Kiwi hospitality.
There were only three tourists: myself, and a charming couple from Israel, plus the tour guide, who drove us in a vehicle with four-wheel drive.
We’d travel the 22km Skipper’s Canyon Road, rated the most dangerous road in the world by 9 News of Australia. Our guide was a tad more charitable, labeling it the eighth most dangerous road. According to 9 News, “It was hand-carved by miners in the late 1800s, and the conditions are so tricky that rental car companies won’t allow their vehicles onto it, as their insurance isn’t honoured there.”
This, I didn’t know.
It’s one lane, unpaved, narrow, uncomfortably close to the edge of precipices.
Geoff Mackley posted a real time video of the 22km trip at 39:29 minutes. Now you don’t have to worry about plunging onto the rocks or into the Shotover River.
“BJK1715” mentions, “The ‘scariest’ section at 17:13. Cool single lane suspension bridge at 38:30.” A particularly shaking section begins at around 21:00 through 22:30.
Other videos of the trip are available on YouTube.
Some sights along the way:
Yes, the road on this ridge is the same road that you see way beyond the ridge. Lots of curves.
Anyone see any Orcs?
It’s the Welcome Home Hotel!
Isengard in Paradise
Morning of March 1, 2023.
Paradise Valley. Otago Region. South Island, New Zealand. East side of the Dart River. Where Peter Jackson filmed scenes depicting the Lothlorian Forest … and Isengard.
The Pure Glenorchy Scenic Lord of the Rings Tour took us to Acadia Station, the site of Isengard and Saruman’s castle, placed there by the magic of Weta Digital. This was on private property, with permission granted to the tour group. A truck rolled back and forth at least three times in the fields below, apparently keeping an eye on us.
Thankfully, though the sky was forebodingly gray, I was protected from its dreary influence by my Warner Bros. jacket.
I’m standing on a mound on which, when one turns around, faces the following location for Beorn’s House from The Hobbit but without the house.
Our friendly and knowledgeable tour guide, Francesco Garino. He took the pictures of me; I took this picture of him.
Careful where you step! This is a working farm with cattle.
For more views of the area see this coverage from Coleen Hawkes, “Slice of heaven: Arcadia Station, where LOTR was filmed, has been sold to a Kiwi,” April 17, 2020.
Back in Queenstown, Duke Street, behind Info & Track on Shotover Street. Pure Glenorchy Tours is known for its LOTR-themed license plates on their vehicles.
Special thanks to Kate Cruickshank of Pure Glenorchy.
Next: The Eighth Most Dangerous Road in the World
Swords in Paradise
Leaving Glenorchy the tour group next visited Paradise Valley in Mt. Aspiring National Park. We stopped at the site of Middle Earth’s Lothlorian Forest. Francesco Garino, our guide, took out some Lord of the Rings costumes for us to wear. Cloaks, pointed hats … and swords. Don’t know whether these were Weta-made or screen-used.
Watch me take on some Orcs.
Wait a minute.
My blade is shrinking. Ahhhhh!!!!
Now that’s a knife.
Next: Eisengard in Real Earth.
Glenorchy: A real-world window to Middle Earth
48 kilometers, or 28 miles north of Queenstown is the small settlement of Glenorchy (population 318 as of 2018 census), which lies at the northern end of Lake Wakatipu. Peter Jackson filmed Lord of the Rings around the neighboring mountains. Naturally, tour groups come to visit here.
This is the boat shed with emphemera inside detailing the history of the wharf.
Beside and beyond the shed is the dock.
These are the Humboldt Mountains. If anyone knows the Middle Earth names of these mountains, please tell me. This view from the wharf is in the direction of Queenstown.
Turning right, this view is toward the Dart River and Rees River.
Turning back to the land, where our tour guide served us some sweet snacks, coffee and hot tea.
Next: Swords in Paradise
The Road to Middle Earth
New Zealand is known as the shooting location for Middle Earth. It’s also the home of Weta Workshop, the production company that created the makeup, armour, weapons, costumes, and special visual effects. So naturally, I had to take a Lord of the Rings tour.
Researching on the web, I found one “My Queenstown Diary” webpage that described three tours originating in Queenstown. I decided to take two LOTR tours there, four hours each, one in the morning and the other in the afternoon. I followed the links, booked one tour, then the other from another webpage. Or so I thought.
One was called Lord of the Rings Scenic Tour, hosted by Nomad Safari. This was a 4WD tour limited to six tourists. It would meet at Info & Track at 37 Shotover Street in downtown Queenstown.
Here’s their video promo:
The other tour, cited by the “My Queenstown Diary” webpage, was the Pure Glenorchy Lord of the Rings Tour. It picked up its passengers at the corner of Shotover & Camp Streets, 25 Shotover Street–which was right around the corner of Info & Track. This could be booked from several webpages.
Here’s Glenorchy’s promo video:
And a longer one here:
I booked both tours–or so I thought. Lord of the Rings Scenic Tour in the morning, with an hour-and-a-half break, followed by the Pure Glenorchy Lord of the Rings Tour in the afternoon.
To avoid any misunderstandings, I arrived at Info & Track at twenty minutes before 8:00 a.m. The place had only two people: the clerk and me. I offered my booking number to the clerk. “No worries,” said the clerk, who didn’t bother to check it. With some time to kill, I wandered out to the corner of Shotover and Camp, where the Glenorchy tour passengers were gathering. No, I was with the Nomad group. Or so I thought. “No worries,” the clerk had said.
So I returned to Info & Track. At 8:00 there was a flurry of people going through the store–but no sign of a bus outside on Shotover. It became apparent this was the Nomad tour, and their vehicle was behind the store. Too late. They were already booked, and before I knew it, they were gone. It turns out I had booked the Glenorchy tour around the corner (twice, but through two different websites)–and they were gone.
The afternoon tours for both companies were fully booked. And I couldn’t do it the next day because I had booked another activity in Queenstown that straddled morning and afternoon, an across-the-lake visit to Walter Peak Farm.
So, my opportunity to visit Middle Earth had evaporated.
Or had it?
I was about to experience an instance of Kiwi hospitality–one of many to come.
The clerk called up the owners of the Glenorchy tour–Nomad’s rival!–and put me on the phone with him. He listened to my harried but brief explanation of what had happened. In a calm, friendly manner, he offered to have me join the Glenorchy tour in progress. They would be at their first stop for 20 minutes. That would give his wife time to pick me up and drive me to them. It was a five-minute walk (or run) to the Crown Plaza Hotel parking lot on Beach St. After a few minutes wait, she came by in her van and away we flew as fast as the speed limit would allow. Had a nice, friendly conversation along the way. We caught the tour group just as they were leaving the first location.
Whew.
The second stop–for me the first–was here, Bennett’s Bluff Lookout.
Recognize it, anyone?
Proof that I had arrived on Middle Earth.
And to Pure Glenorchy, thanks.
To be continued.
The Best Burgers in Queenstown
The itinerary for my trip was to travel from south to north, starting in Queenstown on the south island to Auckland on the north island.
February 28, 2023
Air New Zealand landed me at the Queenstown Airport at 3:20 p.m. The place was surrounded by mountains. None were snow-capped, this being the autumn time of year south of the equator. The city did have a public bus service called Orbus. But it didn’t accept travel credit cards. They required local currency. Luckily, the airport terminal had a “Paper Plus” shop, and the lady-behind-the-counter kindly broke down the NZ currency I carried into smaller manageable bills. It turns out Orbus doesn’t shuttle between the airport and the city all that often. I and other passengers had to wait about an hour for the next one. Once it arrived, there were enough people to jam it full.
I lodged in a hostel close to Lake Wakatipu, which borders Queenstown and provides the locale with lots of fun for boat-riders.
With dinnertime fast approaching, my next order of business was a locally popular hamburger eatery, Fergburger, at 42 Shotover Street and within walking distance of the hostel. I learned about it when researching places to visit in Queenstown. This report from the national broadcaster (!), TVNZ 1News attracted my eyes:
After nine years the report was still true–there was a long line of folks eager to sink their teeth into a Fergburger and its variants: beef, venison, pork, and lamb. They posted their menu outside the door:
Later, I learned that the Fergburger had a sister store, Fergbaker. This is the place that bakes the buns and serves them fresh with the meat. But here’s an open secret: There’s no line at the the bakery. True, they don’t serve the burgers, but you can buy meat pies with delicious, flaky crust, and they serve sandwiches, pastries and bottled drinks as well.
At Fergburger, my first order was “The Fergburger” with genuine NZ beef, and a ginger beer, which you can see in the next photo.
I was seated at a counter at the rear of the restaurant, when lo and behold, a sparrow hopped its way to my chair. I wanted to take a picture, but, off it flew.
Amazing: a bird brave enough to venture this far into a restaurant. It turned out that that’s the way it is in Queenstown–indeed, across New Zealand. The birds were used to humans.
To be continued.
