Otago Gold

Hopping over the Haast pass, we drove out of the rain clouds and into the mesmerizing labyrinth of alpine valleys that constitute the Otago region. The whole place is a system of glacial valleys, lakes long and deep and gorgeous mountain ranges everywhere. Absolutely everywhere. Our first stop for a few days was Wanaka, a small town that floods with skiers in the winter, but I think must be most beautiful now, in the fall. Vineyards in full color bordered sheep pasture while Maple and Oak shed their leaves around the skirt of the lake. Our walk along the shore led us to discover riparian zones that had just been planted. There along the trail was a sign and a barrel, saying the trees were thirsty and we should give them a drink! So we did, helping to encourage the buffer of nature between farms and lake. Riparian zones are an essential tool to keep fertilizer, pesticide and stock effluent from running directly into our waterways. The complex system of native plant roots, fungus and minerals soak up runoff and filter the heavy chemicals and poo water. Along our walk, we also discovered a beautiful, twisted tree growing out of the lake! Apparently this tree is famous and on our return to town we not only found many gorgeous photos of it in galleries, we were told it has its own facebook page (try as I may, I have not been able to verify this, although I know I want to be friends with this tree). Otago is home to beautiful wine and food as well as singular trees, and we particularly enjoyed the stop at a not so tiny Mrs. Jones’ Fruitstand. The ice-cream is made in front of you from fruit picked out back, you can buy fresh veggies in combo packs and the raspberry nougat is wicked tasty.

We are pretty grateful that Magic makes stops at little gems like this, but the funny thing is, some of these little stop offs are even visited by the regional bus routes. Go figure New Zealand. Can you imagine Greyhound stopping at a farmer’s market? Unlikely. We are now nestled for a night or two in Queenstown, arguably the adrenaline capital of the world. Although we are resisting the multiple ways to spend a lot of money for a quick thrill, there are plenty of opportunities to watch other people jump off of or ride down perfectly good bridges / hills / platforms in the sky. It feels intense just watching. Our Magic drivers always give us the low down on upcoming sights and adventure options; we even get discounts. As if we had the money anyhow. We opted for an affordable choice and took the gondola (one of the steepest in the world) up Mt. Bob, yes Mt. Bob, to get a grand view of the Remarkables mountain range. We also went to watch people luge in little plastic carts, unload mountain bikes from gondolas, parasailing on the lake, a coal-fired steamship in the distance and bungee jumpers leap or be thrown from a platform off a cliff –all at the same time. Welcome to Queenstown, it’s a crazy place, and that’s just the start.