Mad Campers: New Zealand Road Trip - Part 4

We did stop briefly at Wanaka, but only to take a picture of ‘That Wanaka tree’. From humble beginnings, 70 years ago, as a wooden fence post, this is now a beautiful willow tree. It is the first time that I have stood in a queue to take a picture of a tree!

The scenic route from Wanaka to Queenstown is the Crown Range Road which passes through the Alpine resort of Cardrona. A settlement originally grew up here in the late 1800s and it was the centre of the region’s gold mining industry. Nowadays, in the winter, it is a well-known ski resort, but, in the summer, the handful of historic buildings on the roadside attract passing visitors stopping for a refreshments on route. Especially popular is the historic Cardrona Hotel.

Heading down towards Lake Wakatipu and Queenstown, we detoured to a popular tourist location: Arrowtown. Another gold mining town, it has retained many of its original buildings.  Although teaming with tourists, it was still interesting to walk along the quirky main street; a tree lined avenue with plenty of heritage buildings and tiny miners’ cottages. We also visited the Chinese Village and read about the separate community that lived here. The Chinese gold miners who arrived at Arrowtown in 1880s were an extremely valuable part of the gold mining industry. However, they were never truly appreciated or accepted and had to live in a completely separate, more modest area of the once prosperous town.

Giving the busy Queenstown a miss, we drove along Lake Wakatipu to Kinsgton Lake Camp. Here we had a chilled out evening with another amazing view.

While travelling around we stayed in huge variety of sites, but one of our favourites was Mossburn Country Park. This family run business was immaculately maintained, complete with goats, sheep and alpacas.

From Mossman, we made our way to Milford Sound via Te Anau where we stopped to complete Mad Camper Challenge 7: Find a town icon. The statue represents the Takahe, a flightless swamp hen. Although not quite extinct, the only place you will find it wild is in Fiordland.

Mliford Sound is one of the most popular places to visit and it was packed with tour buses and people joining boat trips into the Sound. We had decided to beat the crowds and join an early morning kayak trip. The team at Roscos were great, very organised and informative. It was a superb way to view the awe inspiring Sound and see the iconic Mitre Peak a different angle.