Aotearoa New Zealand 2023: The Inland Beauty of the Southern Alps

Leaving the West Coast, we headed into the heart of the Southern Alps, a land of glacially-fed rivers and alpine lakes. Queenstown is sort of the fulcrum, the jumping off point for famous Milford Sound and the Milford Track, and a base for skiing, fresh water sports, multi-day tramps, etc.

We'd heard Queenstown was now a busy tourist city - it was a sleepy backpackers haven when I was here 41 years ago - so we opted to navigate our campervan to Wanaka, about an hour's drive away.

Turned out to be a good choice. Our holiday park was quiet, nicely equipped - it had bicycles to rent, which we did - and well-staffed. The 30km bike ride included a bit of "mountain biking" trail, our first experience with that (no converts here!).

A highlight of the ride, though, was a colony of Great (Southern) crested grebes. The grebes typically build floating nests; this population has been in decline, so locals built little nesting islands for them, away from potential predators, and the colony has rebounded.

We also had a rigorous hike up to a high point that give us fine views of the town and the surrounding countryside.

We took a side trip to visit an old country inn, the Cardrona Hotel, nestled in the Crown Range that hurtles steeply down to Queenstown. As you see in the photos below, it has a classic "western" look and has been used for that purpose in movies. It was, and still is, a way-station for those traveling between Wanaka and Queenstown, offering rooms, food, and pints.

Enjoy the pics ...

We followed this glacier-fed river for much of the way toward Wanaka.

Panorama of Lake Wanaka on our approach to town.


The communal kitchen at the holiday park. We had a nice chat with the extended family in the foreground were French, from Guadalupe, New Caledonia, and some island off the coast of Bordeaux.