To Queenstown

We woke up in time to see another beautiful sunrise at Skyscape.

We took our time getting ready.  We have about a three hour drive today and the check-in at the Rees Hotel in Queenstown isn’t until 3 p.m. However, as I mentioned earlier, the glass makes certain times of the day at Skyscape less desirable.  When I saw Gayle sitting on the bed with her sunglasses on I asked if maybe we shouldn’t head out.

Our travel agent told we should get gas before we head out today and, of course, we also need our flat whites.  On the way to run these errands we found a farmer herding his two runaway cows back home.  He did not look pleased.

We have a day trip to Wanaka planned for when we are in Queenstown.  Everyone has told us not to miss Wanaka.  We decided that since we have time today we would make a detour to Wanaka on the way and save our Wanaka day for a different adventure.  It started raining shortly before we arrived in Wanaka. It appears that Wanaka is a tourist destination.  Every shop you can possibly imagine is down near the lakefront.  Once we found parking we hopped out and looked around.

I am sure it is drop dead gorgeous here when the sun is out and you can see the Southern Alps in the distance.  It wasn’t bad today but I am sure it is way more stunning on a different day.

We didn’t dilly dally here.  We headed for Queenstown down the Cardrona Valley Road.  This is Gayle’s second time to New Zealand.  She came with her sons and their spouses back in 2000.  While in Queenstown, Gayle rented a car and drove to Wanaka to talk to Sir Tim Wallis.  He raised red deer for their antlers (velvet).  Gayle and her husband were doing the same but by raising elk.  She took the Cardrona Valley Road up from Queenstown.  I mentioned that Gayle is afraid of heights.  Actually, she has what is called cremnophobia, the fear of cliffs.  Specifically when driving on a steep road with a cliff plummeting down the side she is afraid she will have the urge to steer the car off the edge.  The first time she told me about this fear we were in South Africa and she was the one driving alongside a steep cliff! Since then I have learned that this fear is actually quite common.

Back in 2000 when she had made an appointment to visit Sir Tim Wallis she discovered that the Cardrona Valley Road was a dirt road with no guardrails. Her cremnophobia kicked in big time.  She saw a hitchhiker on the side of the road and immediately pulled over.  She told him, “I will give you a lift if you drive the car.”  I guffaw every time I think about this scenario.  I can only laugh because she is still alive and the hitchhiker she picked up turned out to be a lovely man and even invited her to have dinner with his family.  

So here we are on that same road only now it is paved and has guardrails, which helps, but it is terribly steep and it was raining.  Gayle got lightheaded.  Luckily, I was the one driving.  When she wasn’t reminding herself to breathe, she took this photo of the navigation screen.

We made one stop along the Cardrona  Valley Road at the Bra Fence.  Back in 1998 people passing by began to leave bras on a fence in Cardrona.  Eventually the number of bras grew to hundreds.  It became a tourist attraction, which delighted some residents and embarrassed others.  When it was discovered that the fence was actually on a public road reserve the local Council deemed the bra fence a traffic hazard and eyesore and ordered the bras removed.

In 2014, a local couple decided to take guardianship of the fence and shifted it to their private driveway, about 100 meters from where it was originally.  A pink sign and a collection box were installed for help raise funds for the New Zealand Breast Cancer Foundation.  The bra fence is now called “Bradrona”. They have raised over $180,000.  

Since Gayle and I are on our “We Survived Breast Cancer Treatment” trip we had to stop.  Gayle had brought a bra to add to the fence.  I threw all my bras away after I had a double mastectomy. 

We made it to Queenstown and checked into the luxury hotel, which will be our home for the next five nights. We have a two bedroom, two bathroom lake view apartment.  It really is lovely, with heated floors and our own washer and dryer. 

We relaxed for a brief time before we called an Uber and went to the Skyline gondolas.  We have a reservation to eat at the Stratosfare restaurant at the top of the hill.  It is so like us to meticulously plan our trips only to have rain ruin the views.  But we had already paid for this adventure.

Dinner was a huge buffet with everything from green lipped mussels to Waygu beef to sushi to Yorkshire pudding to passion fruit panna cotta.  The view was truly amazing.

After we had been there for an hour the manager came over to inform us that we were allowed 90 minutes in the restaurant and we had a half hour left.  We already knew that and weren’t planning to stay past our allotted time, but because she gave us a half hour warning, we made sure to use up all 90 minutes of our time.  Gayle is more of a rebel than I am.  I think she wanted to stay until they escorted us out.  It was dusk when we left the restaurant.

We took our Uber home and prepared ourselves for our 7:20 a.m. pick up tomorrow for Milford Sound.