Once more the rain from the night before had dissipated and the sun was shining brightly in the morning sky.  After breakfast it was time to pack away the gazebo and all our belongings.  Sadly we said our goodbyes and once more on our journey around New Zealand.  Like a lot of our travels, one has to go south to go north, east to go west etc due to the mountainous terrain.  The way north out of piano flats, which is where we wanted to head, was over the 4×4 route  which was only  passable by total off-road vehicles.  We’d seen numerous trucks loaded with trials bikes,  mountain bikes, quad bikes and sand buggies.  The Sandd Van did not count in this category so we headed back south down the 8km  of unsealed roads and much further on sealed roads until we picked up our northbound highway again.

The Polar Express

We stopped at Fairlight Railway Station for lunch.  Although the station is not used to embark and disembark passengers onto the train, it is used as a lunch stop for those on the Kinston Steam Express journey.  We sat eating our lunch hoping to see the steam train pass but alas it was not to be.  We were now heading northwards and could once again see snow on the distant mountains.

Dog Leg Lake

Onwards and upwards we rolled in the Sandd Van.  We came across the magnificent Devil’s Staircase Viewpoint overlooking Wakatipu Lake.  Sarah explained to me that it was a dog leg lake. I had never heard that expression before but apparently it is because it has a sharp bend in it.  In New Zealand it is famous for its ‘z-shaped’ look and it’s steeped in Maori legend and history.  It also featured in many scenes in Lord of the Rings including: the eleven realm of Lothlorian, the forests near Isengard and many others.

Pac n Gas

As we were heading through Queenstown it would have been rude not to have stopped at the Pac n Save again, for hopefully our last grocery shopping of the trip.  Fuel was still expensive but not a total rip off.  We put enough in the tank to see us over the next two days before the prices dropped drastically on route back towards Christchurch.

It was off to our final destination not far away,  which included shower facilities as well as a full kitchen and lounge area.  There was no freedom camping allowed anywhere in the vicinity so this was the nearest thing.  A ‘Top Ten’ holiday park. 

Thanks Ben as we cooked the succulent lamb chops which had more meat on than a rack of lamb.  Whilst we had the cooking facilities we also cooked all the chicken drumsticks and hard boiled our eggs ready for wraps over the next few days.

We popped down to the Shotover River, famous for many activities  though they had all finished for the day.