Cardrona and surroundings.

The day before yesterday we passed Wanaka on our way to Cadrona. Cadrona is only 25 km further on the route south and the road was only paved in the 1960’s. In winter it could be closed due to snow. Now they have developed a ski area only 2 km from here. So it is easy to drive back to Wanaka,something we did the next day. Having checked in at Cardrona Hotel, we enjoyed  the garden of the hotel and a glass of white wine in our hands, when it all in a sudden started to rain! No problem, it was about time to prepare for dinner. We had a perfectly prepared venison. In old days they had only birds on this island but deer were imported for hunting. The Cardrona Hotel is very famous. About everyone makes a stop here to take a look. The front and the bar still is in the original style from 1866. In 2002 they built a new wing with good rooms. We stay for 3 nights.

On Friday morning we left for Wanaka to explore the 'city' at Lake Wanaka. Beautful views to the still snow topped mountains. Wanaka is actually a nice and quiet place. Enough places for eating and drinking but also has a big open park towards the lake. We enjoyed lingering around till we had our appointment with Ridgeline Adventures. We were only 4 people on this tour. Two men from The Netherlands were joining. Our guide was a retired farmer. He took us on a 4W drive tour lasting 4 hours to a farm about 20 km from Wanaka. The farm has 30.000 acres of land,14.000 sheeps, 1350 Angus & Herford plus 2200 red deers. He took us high up into the mountains and we didn't see one single person. We learned a lot from George. We made some walks and had our afternoon tea en route. After the tour we had our dinner in a restaurant in Wanaka and returned satisfied to our hotel.    

Today we had the day for ourselves and visited Arrowtown and Queenstown. There are strong winds today. A drive over the mountain pass 1076 meter above sea level, with a beautiful view over Queenstown and Lake Wakatipu. Arrowtown is small and charming but to many tourists even though the season has not started yet! Queenstown is big compared to Wanaka and exists of lots of holiday apartmentbuildings,hotels and shops. According to the books the place to be, but we preferred Wanaka above Queenstown. Now we have seen it and can pass by tomorrow on our way to Te Anau for some new adventures.