After months of lockdowns and a variety of levels of depravation we have finally been allowed to board a plane and depart from Auckland City. This trip comes in three instalments, Queenstown, Wānaka and Clyde. As always the disclaimer is that this is my travel diary and there will be bits that may be boring to the reader but a memory for me, there will be mistakes in spelling and grammar (I will try hard but blame my dyslexia), and there will be toilet stories good, bad and honest.
Arriving at Auckland Airport we headed for the Koro lounge however the line was so long, because they can only let 100 people in at a time, we decided to just grab a coffee out with the rest of New Zealand who were escaping for the holidays. We were all fairly close and I wondered how it could be okay that the Koro lounge needed to space people out but the departure area didn’t have enough space to keep our distance.
Fortunately, unfortunately:
Unfortunately Kay, who we were about to stay with in Queenstown, had a funeral to attend in Auckland. Fortunately she managed to get the same flight as us back to Queenstown so we could have a chat before the flight.
It is always lovely to stay with Kay and Jeff and in my ‘Itinerary’ I have them noted as ‘Turner’s retreat’. We had a late lunch at Akarua (See my review) and highly recommend this place. The evening was spent at home and we caught up with all that has been going on since we saw them last year in 2019.
A bit about Queenstown. We don’t need to do anything touristy because we have been here many times and have done many things. If you have never been to Queenstown you need to know that it sits on the shores of Lake Wakatipu and is nestled within mountain ranges, my favourite are the Remarkables who rise up in pointy shards and loom over the township. Maori have been here since 700 AD and did not settle here but used it as a summer hunting ground. English settlers arrived mid 1800s for farming and gold. The resilience of the people of these times never fails to amaze me. As I sit here writing the snow is falling and the temperature is 2 degrees. Imagine settling in tents and shanty towns with minimal heating, I guess the rough liquor kept them warm.
Queenstown today is a modern and thriving tourist destination, from New Zealand and in normal times the world. It is an adventure playground and close to beautiful ski fields and world class wine producers.
Our friends Kay and Jeff moved here from Auckland 24 years ago and have built a beautiful house on the shores of the lake. These days our visits are filled with good food, wine and company.
A slow start was had on Sunday morning and we had a quick look at the shops in Queenstown. I did make a couple of sensible purchases because the weather was predicting snow for the following day. We stopped for a coffee at a cafe called Bespoke where we have previously had an excellent breakfast. We were not disappointed with the fare today. Lance had a cheese roll which is a local delicacy involving bread and cheese presented in the most delectable way. You may be interested in my 2015 blog where we did an Otago tour and conducted some scientific research on the merits of a good cheese roll.
Once we were home Kay slapped on a slow roast of lamb shoulder coated in mint, garlic, spices, mint, coriander and olive oil whilst I regularly checked the weather app for snow. Initially the app told me that snow would arrive at 6pm but as each hour arrived it changed its mind and left me waiting for another hour. At 11pm no snow had arrived, despite the app telling me that it had, so we hit the sack.
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