March 24 2018
Sadly our last day in New Zealand and it is a glorious one. The sun is shining and the snow has melted from the mountain tops. The views from our room at the Earnslaw Lodge have been perfect. The hotel itself is very basic and could use a few improvements but given a choice between a few amenities and these views, I’ll pick the views!
We were packed up and out the door by 10:00am. We loaded up the rental car and headed away from town to revisit Arrowtown. We had a brief stop in this old mining town a few days earlier when it was raining hard but it feels like a different place when the sun is shining.
Arrowtown wasn’t much of a town until gold was found in the Arrow river in the 1860’s. Now the town is a quiet residential community with a town center geared to tourism as well as a base for wine tasting and outdoor activities. The town has retained many historical buildings and has a great museum showcasing the region’s history. At the end of town near the river is a reconstruction of a Chinese settlement from the mid to late 1800’s when Chinese men immigrated to NZ to work as diggers in the goldfields. They lived in very basic accommodations and worked hard to send money home. They were not treated well by the locals and mostly stayed to themselves.
A modern rendition of a timeline which seems to be a popular display in museums these days.
If we ever come back to the Otago Valley I’d like to take the bike ride from Arrowtown to the Gibbston Wine Valley. It looks like a fairly easy bike trail along the river. And ebikes are available for rent!
We had lunch at the Gibbston Valley Winery. It was the best meal that we’ve eated out during our three weeks in New Zealand.
I had met the woman whose family now owns this winery at a salon in Queenstown where I was getting a badly needed haircut. They are from Lake Tahoe, NV and invested with the Irishman who started the vineyards in the region back in the 1980’s. They helped expand the winery adding a cave, the restaurant, bike tours and are planning to build a lodge.
It’s quite a place. Bill had a lamb rump with smoked eggplant, heirloom tomatoes, feta cheese and coriander. I ordered a cioppino with mussels and clams, a rouille sauce served on bread (not soupy at all). Our vegetable was roasted baby carrots with honey, cheese and jalapenos.
We loved the 2016 Pinot Noir (China Terrace and GV). We can order them online for a small shipping fee when we get home – easier than lugging bottles for next 2 weeks in our already full suitcases.
And the dessert – a carrot cake
Another must stop in this region is AJ Hackett’s Bungy – to watch not jump. Best free entertainment around. This was the first commercial bungy jumping site and AJ Hackett developed the system that is now used in many places. Mostly young people were paying $200 to jump 47 meters from the bridge over the Kawaru River. Most of the jumpers got their head soaked in the river and the girls shrieked like a banshee. As they were swinging upside down, they were pulled into a waiting raft and then hiked backup to the check in center. Not for me but great fun to watch. Check out the video below.
We still had some time to kill before our evening flight on this beautiful day so we walked around the Frankton Arm of Lake Wakipitu.
We are sad to leave New Zealand. We loved our travels in this country – so much natural beauty and warm friendly people. We will definitely be back. Now it’s off to Australia.