Gorgeous Arrowtown

Trip Start Apr 03, 2009
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Trip End Apr 19, 2009


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Flag of New Zealand  , South Island,
Wednesday, April 8, 2009

A bit clearer this morning and some gorgeous views of snow dusted mountains in the distance. Lovely drive on the way to Arrowtown - what I expected of Otago - beautiful mountains with sheep grazing peacefully in paddocks below. Arrowtown Holiday park is very tidy and we easily got into our spot. After leaving the 5th wheel we drove to the township and it was just beautiful at this time of year - flaming autumn trees everywhere, quaint old miner's cottages, oak lined avenues, a main street with old fashioned shops (yes they were expensive & touristy, but at least tasteful) and the Arrow river with all the pathways covered in a carpet of yellow leaves was just to die for. I could live here and never get tired of the scenary - it reminds me so much of the Rocky Mountain National Park region in Colorado and that was my favourite place in the U.S.
We hired 3 gold pans and shovels from the Information/museum for $9 and Fred and the kids had a go prospecting in the Arrow River - they didn't have much luck unfortunately, but it was fun and at least a genuine experience for them. We walked around a preserved Chinese Miner's settlement and were amazing at how these tough men could survive the Otago winters in these stone & tin shacks.
Later in the afternoon we had another go and panning for gold (no luck) and I went for a walk further along the river which was where part of Lord of the Rings was filmed, but as there were no signs I couldn't tell where that was!
The Lake Districts Museum was very interesting, but because Kate has developed a fear of dummies & mannequins, a little hard to get the full benefit of, as we had to keep reassuring her and leading her past any dummies that were there. We tried to fool Josh with one display that was a dummy sitting on a dunny and when you opened the door a recording said 'Oi! Can't you see I'm busy in here?' However he suspected something was off when he saw me holding a camera and refused to cooperate! Kate of course was no where to be seen...
We saw a few flakes of snow on the way into our 5th wheel this afternoon, and it certainly feels cold enough to snow more tonight!
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Comments

mike.g
mike.g on Apr 10, 2009 at 04:41AM

Cold
Hi all,
cold up here in Auckland last night also. Only 6 degrees this morning, almost a frost. He he, told you it always rains on the West Coast of the south Island. Glad to hear you made it over the Haast ok with the rig. Looking forward to your pics of Queenstown. Not sure which road you are heading on to Invergargil. I dont think I have been thru the Catlins either. Sounds if though all is going well. Keep having a great time. - M.G. -

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