February 09, 2019
The itinerary for the day was to drive to Queenstown, take the road to Glenorchy and the Routeburn Track to do some hiking, and then drive back through Queenstown and south to our reserved room at the Remarkables Lodge (total estimated drive time 3 hours 40 minutes).
We awoke to partly cloudy skies and were on the road shortly after 7 AM. There was a shortcut road out of Wanaka south to Queenstown that avoided going back to SH 6. This shortcut went over the Crown Range Summit, which is the highest sealed (paved) road in the nation. We stopped at the summit to take some photos of the views from the pass. The hills were golden in the morning sun.
The road down from the pass into Queenstown was extremely twisty and steep with many hairpin curves. Fortunately it was wide and there was not much traffic.
We drove through Queenstown when it was still early and traffic was not bad. I encountered some two-lane roundabouts that were confusing since I had not dealt with those before.
We took the drive to Glenorchy. The objective was to drive to the end of the road and beat most of the traffic, and then make stops along the way to see the various sights on the way back. As we drove to Glenorchy, the weather progressively worsened with thick clouds. The scenery was nice, not spectacular, with the golden mountains as a backdrop to Lake Wakatipu.
We arrived in Glenorchy and walked a little way on the lagoon track. This was a disappointment. Google Maps showed the road going farther than it actually did, making a longer hike to the lagoon. We reached the end of the lagoon and there were no views. We decided to turn around before wasting any more time there.
Heinrich took over driving and we went to the end of the road at Routeburn Track, 34 km past Glenorchy. The last 6 km were on a chunky gravel road. The weather at the track was extremely overcast and drizzling rain on and off. But we were back inside Mount Aspiring National Park and the pretty lush scenery. So we decided to take the nature trail loop hike and then go to the Bridal Veil bridge that crossed a stream below the waterfall, a 1.5-hour round trip hike.
The hike was through a pretty forest. Even in the bad weather it was nice. There was a swinging bridge that passed over a creek with beautiful clear blue water, possibly a mini version of the Blue Pools? There was also a nice waterfall in the distance but it was difficult to get good photos due to the mist and rain. The Bridal Veil bridge featured a small waterfall and cascades into small blue pools: very pretty. We passed a large group of people near the bridge: I think they were part of a tour.
On the drive back to Glenorchy, we stopped at a Lord of the Rings filming location (Isengard) near Scott’s Creek. There was a waterfall cascading down the mountain in the distance, and the mountains near the Routeburn Track were misty in the fog.
Back in Glenorchy we parked at the wharf. The scenery was much better there with nice views of Lake Wakatipu and the surrounding mountains. The weather was partly cloudy. On the wharf was a couple that had just been married, with the bride in her dress and groom posing for photos. The photographer was operating a drone that buzzed around annoyingly.
On the drive back to Queenstown from Glenorchy, we did not stop at many viewpoints due to the heavier traffic on the road. I took a few photos of Lake Wakatipu from the car as Heinrich was driving.
We stopped at Bob’s Cove. There was a trail that led to the base of Lake Wakatipu with a few nice views. The sun had returned.
Back in Queenstown the traffic was heavy, stop and go. Consistent with our avoidance of urban areas so far, we had no desire to make any stops in town. We got through the traffic and then drove to the Pak N Save supermarket on the other side of town near the airport. There we stocked up on food for dinner. There were no cooking facilities where we were staying, so we got fixings for a chef salad.
We drove to the Remarkables Lodge south of Queenstown and checked into our room. This was advertised as a four star bed and breakfast place, and it was indeed very nice. The property was at the foot of the Remarkables mountains. Our room was huge with a private bathroom, spa tub and a sitting area. We had our chef salad for dinner, and then we used the outside hot tub for about a half hour.