Our two favourite places (if you haven’t guessed!) are beaches and mountains and we’d had plenty of stunning beaches so now time for some stunning mountains and a visit to Wanaka and Queenstown. We spent two nights camping at the lovely Albert Town campsite near Wanaka which is how campsites should be, right by a clear sparkling blue river under the pine trees (like Tentsmuir, Fife before they destroyed all the trees), loads of space, camp anywhere you like and basic toilets. With only one day to play with in Wanaka we of course packed in as much fun as we could, after borrowing a bike from an old climbing friend “Kiwi” Steve, I drove ten miles down river and cycled Steve’s boneshaker bike back along a very scenic mountain bike track which gave me a chance to recce the rapids and enjoy some alpine views next to and high above the river. More suited to a bike with fatter tyres, front suspension and brakes and gears that work but I somehow made it in one piece! Steve always did like to get full value out of any equipment he owned!
This set us up nicely for a paddle along the river back to the car, again equally scenic and with plenty of grade 2 rapids to test our skills. Found a lovely beach for lunch en route and a quick swim in the icy water, adults only this time due to the swift current and chilly temps. Definitely the highest volume river we’ve paddled, an air of seriousness and moving at a fair old pace, by the end we were all sat in quite a lot of water as we got hit with lots of waves and were relieved to safely reach the red bridge end point.
A quick drive back to Wanaka town to meet up with another old friend Carolyn (from camp Thoreau) and her son Dusty and a very relaxing few hours were spent on the shores of Lake Wanaka chatting, eating and of course the standard swim and SUP combo, might have to buy another SUP, hard to get a go with all these enthusiastic young people taking over, Sara especially is very keen and skilful on the board. The action packed day ended with another great BBQ at Steve’s house and plans for the mountains for next few days.
Bit of a slow start (aka a massive lie in) and we drove over the Crown range road to Queenstown and then up the slightly bonkers ski road to the Remarkables, Em went off to tackle the famous alpine ridge of Single and Double Cone aka the Grand Traverse and the kids and I went on our own alpine adventure up to scenic Lake Alta which starts out fairly average walking through ski car parks and past lifts but gets better and better the higher you go and once we found some climbing and snow to make a snowman we were converted. Very proud of little Iona aged 3 walking all the way up and down on her own steam. Sadly mummy bailed on the ridge as a bit serious without ropes and other gear but nice to see her safely back down.
We were staying in the heart of Queenstown right under the gondola and this turned out to be our least favourite NZ campsite by far, packed in like sardines with noisy backpackers in vans (party buses) all around and not many families. Still you can’t fault the location being a short stroll from town and the gondola and luge though expensive is great fun. Daddy’s day off was a trip back to the Remarkables this time for some rock climbing with Steve, great to be back in the hills and remembering what I loved about climbing, the amazing views from belay ledges and the extreme positions you get yourself into, the wild last pitch was especially memorable. We finished with the Grand Traverse which made for a great day out, much easier with ropes and gear though we didn’t use them and a second pair of eyes to find the route, could see why Em sensibly backed off, a committing line for sure. We all loved swimming in the chilly blue waters of lake Wakatipu and Em enjoyed an ascent of Ben Lomond high above town and down a dramatic ridge line to finish.
After three sleepless nights it was time to move on from busy campsite and now we decided to part ways, Em and the kids drive round to Fiordland via Te Anau and I took the scenic bus ride to Glenorchy and the start of the famous Routeburn Trek – a three day walk that I’d always wanted to run in a day. Reading some climbing guidebooks back in Wellington I’d also found a harder variant involving some scrambling along high ridges which Steve confirmed should be a goer. How did it go? You’ll have to read the next blog post to find out!
Harrison Family Adventures Down Under 