Ramble
Quest - Glenorchy -- Gateway to Paradise.
The Maoris depicted Lake Wakatipu as a seated warrior. As such, Queenstown would be at the knees and Glenorchy at the head. The tiny hamlet of Paradise is at the very tip top, but Glenorchy is the closest town (and it is barely a town) to the famous area trails: Routeburn, Caples, Greenstone, and Rees-Dart.
Glenorchy might possibly be in an even more scenic setting than Wanaka or Queestown and is delightfully quiet. I have the best accomodation value so far in NZ at the Glenorchy Holiday Park (they also run the Dart Jetboats and Backpacker Express vans to trailheads) with $NZ14 for a tiny cabin. I may well return and spend a month here.
First day here I wander aimlessly outside of town, picking up a horse path that cuts through marshy grassland towards Paradise. Some boardwalks here, close to town have benches that invite contemplation of the outstanding moutain views.
Even with a blockbuster trekking schedule ahead of me, I can't resist adding one more highlight when the opportunity arrives. I hear about a hiking club made up of older gentlemen from Sydney who have charted a boat and van to provide transport for a day walk along the Dart River, one of the most scenic sections of the Rees-Dart (impossible to do the circuit now because the bridge is still down from the winter). At $NZ110 it's definitely a splurge for a day hike, but I can't think of a better way to spend my last day before Routeburn. Besides, this is less than the cost of a bungy jump!
The boat ride up the Dart is as thrilling as it is scenic. It's quite amazing that they can get speedboats up this shallow, rocky, tortuous river. The boats only need a 3" clearance and sometimes that's about all they have! The Sydney club requested a short detour down one of the trout-filled tributaries to look at a beauty spot they'd visited previously. Then we're dropped off just past Sandy Point for a hike down to Chinaman's Bluff.
Once again I use my hike in the opposite direction trick, this time to get a marvelous view of the glaciers further up. Then it's down the gorgeous Dart River Valley, along an easy trail, in the heart of the Southern Alps. I still wind up getting far in front of the older Sydney crew, so I loaf along the river bank examining many green rocks. I climb a mossy branched tree (something I haven't done in far too long -- must be getting old or something) and sit up at the top, gazing at the snowy mountains. It's a perfectly gorgeous day and I don't let the forecast of rain for Routeburn worry me in the slightest.