. QUEENSTOWN WALKS & TOURS The track takes you beside low rock tors, a tarn (small mountain Queenstown Walks lake) and over an open hilltop that soon displays the full drama of the Wakatipu Basin and beyond. Across the lake are Walter and Cecil Peaks; There are many walks and long tramps around Queenstown and to the left the Remarkables, the upper Kawarau River and Frankton Bay. its locality. As they often cross private farm land, it’s important Coronet Peak, Lake Hayes and the Crown Range can also be seen. From to leave gates as you find them and not to take dogs. Companies here the effect of glaciation – ending only ten to fifteen thousand years offer guides and transport to and from some of these walks As ago – is obvious. A glacier dug out the valley to an average depth of in most parts of New Zealand, you need strong footwear and some 400 metres and left the steep ‘U’ shaped lower mountain slopes. warm clothing in case of changes in the weather. These Otago Cecil Peak reveals long scratches in its side, made by rocks being tracks can become very hot in summer, so take plenty of liquid carried in the ice. with you. It’s worth taking binoculars with you, not only for the natural landscape, 1. Queenstown Hill and Time Walk - 2–3 hours but also for picking out sites in the township - the graveyard, the birdlife return. enclosure, the Earnslaw wharf. The Queenstown Peninsula, which now A climb of 500 metres in height. A good track that is fairly steep contains the very attractive town gardens, was once the site of a Maori but within most people’s range. Information plaques of high pa of the Ngati Mamoe tribe. interest offer vantage points to rest and read up on the history and development of the area through time. The Maori name for Queenstown Hill – Te Tapunui – means ‘intense sacredness’. 2. Sunshine Bay Walk - 45 minutes return. Start just near the corner of Edgar and Kent Streets, or you can A pleasant stroll beside Lake Wakatipu and the Glenorchy Road to drive your car to Belfast Crescent. Sunshine Bay. The track starts on Glenorchy side of the Earnslaw Wharf. The track makes its way through exotic trees such as Douglas fir, radiata pine and a scattering of macrocarpa, larch and sycamore 3. Wilsons Bay - 3 hours return. with scrub below them. These trees lend colour and variety, Starts just past the Moke Lake turn-off on the Glenorchy Road. This is especially in autumn. On the lower slopes, the canopy is thick, also a pleasant walk which incorporates track and gravel beach. There providing good summer shade with a myriad of pine needles are picnic spots and the Bay is a good place for boating, swimming and under foot. viewing Walter Peak Station on the opposite shore. After about 10 minutes you pass through sculptured steel gates celebrating the new millennium and starting the Time Walk section. When the track divides to the left, it’s a good idea to take the route straight ahead because it is less steep and you can rest while reading the plaques. Views are tantalising at this early stage but it’s worth the wait when you come out of the trees about half way up. In the open tops, spiky matagouri, golden Festuca tussock and coprosmas dominate. 1 rock under foot, and can be exposed in rough weather. Also a mountain bike route. Moke Lake Area Two beautiful, isolated lakes which are mainly surrounded by Some history open grass and tussock land; scrub and some pine covers sections Moonlight Creek was named after George Fairweather Moonlight, of the valley. The road into the lake is sealed for part of the way one of the most renowned Otago and West Coast prospectors. He but then becomes gravel. No dogs, but fishing, swimming and discovered gold in the Creek in 1863. Twenty-one years later he was camping are allowed here. The camping area is serviced by DOC still exploring when he died from exposure in the Murchison bush. and campers register and pay a small fee into an honesty box, although the area is patrolled. The charges are $4 a night for each As you walk from Arthurs Point in the footsteps of the goldminers, adult and $2 for each child. you can only admire them and the early settlers for the hardships they must have endured. This is an historical route into the goldfields on the The first lake you come to is Lake Kirkpatrick. This and Moke Moonlight and Shotover Rivers and for the copper mines in Moke Creek Lake can be fished from the st1 of October until the 31st of May gorge. There were more than a thousand mines in the area by 1863 and with fly fishing or spinning tackle. the Shotover became known as ‘The richest river in the world’. § Moke Lake Loop Track, around the lake, is 2.5 hours What is a very rugged piece of country, with its deep narrow valleys return. A fascinating ‘U’ shaped lake which invites a swim. and gorges and steep and unstable slopes, makes even more of an § Lake Dispute is 2.75 hours. impression on the imagination if you think of thousands of miners camped beside the rivers and on the hillsides. In 1863 a flood swept through the gorges taking many miners with it. Walks from Arthurs Point The sun browns the hillsides but man is sometimes even more effective at changing the colours. In autumn, farmers often burn off wide areas Turn up McChesneys Road which is just past the Arthurs Point to encourage the growth of grass in spring. Fine wool merino sheep do pub. Follow the signs for the Moonlight Track until you come to well on this kind of land and a multi-hued flock of goats can be seen if the carpark. you keep your eyes peeled. Times for the various walks are given from here: From the car park, the track climbs steadily then mainly levels out above § Ben Lomond Saddle - 4 hours the Shotover River and, at the junction, the Moonlight Valley. The confluence of the Moonlight and Shotover Rivers came to be known as § Moke Lake - 5 hours the Jeweller’s Shop because of the wealth of gold found there. § Queenstown - 6 hours On the track § Sefferstown - 2.5 hours Almost straight away you will see the Oxenbridge Tunnel (built by Arthurs Point to Sefferstown on the Moonlight Track early miners) which takes some of the Shotover water through a promontory to a rapid on the other side. The commercial rafting trips - 4 hours return. use this tunnel, if conditions are favourable. Good average fitness is needed. The track is fairly rugged, with broken After about 1.5 hours, the track joins a basic 4WD road. You carry on 2 up to the left and, at the top of the rise, the Ben Lomond Track QUEENSTOWN - EXCURSIONS; SIGHTSEEING branches off to the left and the Moke Lake and Sefferstown route continues. As you journey down the steep road you see below § Skyline Gondola you 4WD tracks leading off to a working mine. Virtually all this The most popular visitor activity in Queenstown. A gondola cableway area was a township during the height of the mining. Now only takes you to Bob’s Peak where you can enjoy spectacular views of the one stone building remains, indicating the site of Sefferstown to lake, Cecil and Walter Peaks, the Remarkables mountain range and the the right of the road that takes you all the way through to Moke town below, while you have a snack at the coffee shop or dine in the Lake. restaurant. Above, sited on a terrace in the poplars, is a larger building, home Feeling adventurous? You can parapente, bungy jump and try out the for a while to Barry Crump, a famous New Zealand novelist and luge track. Or simply have fun watching others get their thrills. personality. QUEENSTOWN - TECHNOLOGY § TSS Earnslaw Cruises Launched in 1912 at Kingston, the steamship, known as the “Lady of v The Oxenbridge Tunnel the Lake”, served the remote farming communities around the lake, Just above the bridge at Arthurs Point, this tunnel was the result carrying cargo, livestock and passengers. You can watch the stokers of two attempts within a distance of two miles to divert the entire feeding the fire boxes and learn how a steam engine works or simply flow of the Shotover and collect gold from its bed. The other enjoy the grandeur of the scenery as you cruise to Walter Peak High was at the lower or southern end of Big Beach. The ambitious Country Farm. undertaking was started in 1906 by Ned Oxenbridge. After drilling There’s a variety of activities available at Walter Peak. Learn about the and blasting rock for three years they reached daylight, only to different farm animals, watch shearers and sheep dogs in action, take discover they were 4 feet (1.2m) too high. The 750 feet (228.6 m) a horse trek or wagon ride, have a country morning or afternoon tea, a tunnel was wide and high enough to drive a dray through, a fine barbecue lunch, or dine at the carvery buffet in the evening. feat of engineering, but a dam had to be built to divert the water from flowing through so that the tunnel floor could be lowered. On the return trip to Queenstown, have a drink and join in the sing-song One day after the completion of the dam, a flood swept it away.