The steel hulled
Marlborough, coincidentally home in the UK and source of some of my favourite
Sauvignons, sailed between New Zealand and England in the late eighteen
hundreds and posted a record time of 71 days from Lyttelton, now a suburb of
Christchurch, to the Lizard in 1880. A three masted Clipper she carried
immigrants from the UK and wool and frozen meat on its return journeys.
Our flights (London - Singapore - Melbourne - Auckland) took only 32 flying
hours, plus a short leg down to Queenstown the following day. It seemed to
go on for days though was only spread over three. No jetlag in the days of sail though!
Queenstown is nestled
halfway along the northern shore of Lake Wakatipu, a glacial lake with towering
mountains either side. The lake descends
to a depth of some 420 meters and its deepest part is 100m below sea level. The Eyre, Thomson, Gavie, Harris and
Richardson mountains, together with the Remarkables, so named because they
align due North – South, create an impressive backdrop. One that is constantly changing as the light
brings out different features depending on the cloud cover and sun direction.
The old and new
architectural styles, the extensive use of stone, steel, wood, and glass, blend
together to bring a traditional feel to the centre of the town near the waterfront. Vibrant
and busy with a distinctly younger age profile, it has a reputation for being
the adventure capital of the world. The
“outward bound” retailers sell everything from clothing to thrills. From the more benign canoeing and other
boating activities, to canyon swinging, bungee jumping and zip wires caters for
most extremes of adventure seeker. Some
of these activities make a flying trip around South Island distinctly tame. But that is a few days away and today was the
day for blowing away any vestiges of jet lag with a walk around the Tobin Track
and New Chum Trail out of Arrowtown. 
Built originally around the New Zealand gold rush in the mid
1800’s it is now an attractive historic town where the buildings have been carefully
restored to maintain the character of the town. Its quaint shop fronts hide ice-cream parlours, pie
shops, fashion shops and a micro-brewery where for $NZ 15 you can sample six of
their dozen or so brews. An experience
that should not be missed – we didn’t!
A short drive to the edge of town took us to a small
clearing where we parked and started walking up the Tobin Track before picking
up the New Chum Trail. It was supposed
to be a modest start to the walking part of our holiday with no prior warning
of the steep tracks which wound up through, and then above, the trees to
provide some amazing views of the Remarkables and other ranges. It was not quite the gentle introduction we
imagined but it did provide some stunning views. Billed as a two and a half hour walk, we were
probably not far off that even though the pauses to take in the views were
often necessary to get our breath back.
Back in Arrowtown the home-made ice-creams, pies and local
beer put paid to all the good work from the walk.
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