Queenstown To Omarama

<< Te Anau To Queenstown           Omarama To Lake Tekapo >> 

"THE ROAD TRIP"

FJORDLAND & SOUTHERN PACIFIC EXPERIENCE

Scene Location :
* Queenstown - i-Site, Million Dollar Cruise, The Remarkables
* Shootover Gorge
* Arrowtown
* Cardrona
* Wanaka - i-Site, Lake Wanaka, Puzzling World
* Luggate
* Tarras
* Lindis Pass
* Omarama

Total Distance :
* 202km
* Fuel - NZD50

Setting :
* Day - Luminous

Character :
* Driver : Biqque
* Map Reader & Photographer : Shahrul
* Extra : Dead Possums, Hungry ducks, Pakcik batu lagi, Sheep pun batu, Mike the Captain, and Ikan hebat makan tikus

~Page Five~
Queenstown To Omarama: When We Go For Plan B

Around 4.00am, hubby woke me up since the coldness has bitten us terribly.

“Asal pukul 4 pagi je, sejuk! 4 pagi je sejuk!” Hubby concluded.

We waited for the TV lounge to be opened at 6.00am and sneaked in. We slept in there for about an hour and half, before an English came to make a phone call to his girlfriend, to report on what has he done yesterday. (I overheard that he slept next to two girls in the campervan. WOW! And he’s telling his girlfriend that? Cool…)

Queenstown
We left Queenstown Lakeview Holiday Park and drove to the Skyline. We parked the car right in front of the Kiwi & Birdlife Park and took some pictures. The parking lot was vacant at first, but then we saw a medium-size tourist bus, dropping off more than 10 people in front of the entrance door.
“Ramainyer…we have to quickly queue la…”

“Gondola alone or Gondola with Luge…” We contemplated.
“I’m not going to spend for something that we can do back in our country…I rate this as so-so kot…plus, pendek jer ride ni, we can go somewhere uphill and take more or less the same view kan? Takpe la…lagipun, we have cruise to catch. Terminal pun tak cari lagi kat mana.” So we managed to stopp somewhere around the hillside and snapped few pictures.
We then walked towards the Kiwi & Birdlife Park, and I got amused with this pole...sebab comel sangat!
After snapped few pictures, we head to Lake Esplanade and got crazy being cupid for a couple of ducks at Lake Wakatipu. Wa talak tipu lu hor…betul punya nama ma…wa latang sini kasi baca itu kalate...
Tapi talak abis baca, wa sula talak tahan mau tangkap itu itik mau bikin itik ngantung! Haiyaaaa sula blapa hali wa talak makan laging wooooo...sini mali, SINI MALI!
This long thin Z-shaped lake has spectacular view and it changes with every season. We can’t wait to explore this lake via Million Dollar Cruise that we grabbed from Bookme, for NZD15 each, AGAIN!

“But…beforehand, we need to find the terminal. And where is the terminal?” I questioned hubby, after we failed to see any parking lot alongside the lake. We pretty sure that the terminal was located at the Sunshine Bay, as there was the only place that hold more boats than other places.

“But where to park la weh?”

I stopped the car and forced hubby to walk into one small lodge that happened to be someone’s office, and a lady pointed us to one of the jetty, somewhere around the Sunshine Bay. We drove around town and look for Queenstown i-Site and look for a fridge magnet.

“TAKDE??? Bengong…” I diverted the frustration and asked the lady behind the counter, the way to Million Dollar Cruise.

“I think we have to park somewhere else and walk to the jetty la…” True enough, the same instruction was given to us, where we were advised to park at the Boundary Street. Unlike other parking space around town that charged you for 60 to 120 minutes per NZD2, it’s the only nearest per-entry parking system around town that charge you for NZD4 per day.

And who knows that we are needed to walk for 400 meters to the terminal!!!

“Buang masa…coz the cruise will take us about 2 hours, better parking kat tempat yang 120 minutes tu. Dekat lagi dengan terminal. Bleh lari.”

We parked nearby the William Gilbert Rees statue and snapped few funny pictures before we slotted in two coins that gave us a pretty tight and limited time. In other words, we have to “run Forest, run” towards the car, right after the boat docked, later.
Heading to the jetty, we were delighted by typical “picnic by the lake” view where birds and ducks mingled with human…a.k.a cuba nak mintak simpati untuk dapat makanan la. Hahaha!
Right after we hopped into the boat, we could clearly see the famous steam boat that was revamped to be a restaurant. Adding to that, there were parasailing and paragliding at different locations. Tengok je la yang mampu, nak buat takde duit. Hahaha!
“Eh apsal banyak bendera England plak kat boat ni? Duhh…” We finally found out that this boat was made in England and brought to NZ untuk apetah, no wonder la…

Million Dollar Cruise
The boat departed on time where the captain, Mike, demonstrated fish feeding to a school of rare species that can only be found in this lake. This type of fish eats meat, and unbelievably, they eat rat! Iye koranggggg, tikusssss! Kalo dia tipu aku, aku tipu korang la ye.
The lake was surrounded with tiers of lake view houses over the hill. Anyhow, on certain parts, they were left untouched, unoccupied, enough with snow-capped mountains and healthy soils.

Mike, the captain, being so informative by giving everyone a very good presentation. No wonder he got so many recommendation in TripAdvisor. He's lively! We were mesmerized with the deepness and shallowness of the lake, the geography of the mountains, the people who live around it, and a million dollar house on top of a million dollar land price?
“Ok…that’s why I’m here, paying for NZD15 for this Million Dollar Cruise, looking at these houses, from afar.” Pfftt! Mau ko tak nangis tengok BLAKANG umah ko tu, Remarkables!!!
(Can I sell my semi-D and move to Lindis Pass? Tetiba lari topik. Hahaha!)

The Remarkables
“Look! The Remarkables!” The view was so incredibly remarkable! I bet Chawana will allocate their time to explore this place.
The calmness once in a while was broken up by jet boat that purposely showed off its skill, making 90degree turn from both sides. I can see those proud faces, laughing out loud to everyone of us who were on this slow boat, in some way, telling us that we can’t afford for the joy and thrill that they were having now. LOSER gitu…hahaha!
I then imitated a scene from Titanic where Rose spread her arms, wide and open, right at the muncung kapal. Subsequently, Mike, the captain, was kind enough to offer to all passengers to ‘be’ the captain. As usual, Asians came first, followed by two Caucasian kids that were forced by her parents. Hahaha!
I signed the guestbook before the boat reached the terminal, and we quickly ran towards the car. "Tepi itik! TEPI!" Aku halau itik-itik comel ni. (Macam itik batu yang mak-mak suka letak kat garden tu kan?)
Luckily, there wasn’t any ticket issued. We drove off and stopped at 15minutes parking space, in between of two rows of gift shops. I quickly grabbed a shopping basket and bought few, sorry…not few, but many items for my family back home. Anak sedara je dah sembilan, adik-beradik laki bini bapak makcik anak-anak angkat aku lagi?! Mau tak koyak poket aqaq!

Shootover Gorge - Arrowtown
We continued our journey to Arrowtown and passed by the Shotover Gorge and picturesque Lake Hayes. I once, asked hubby whether we are going for this but hubby told me that it is not worth it since we can’t bring the camera along. Plus, who knows that the boat will hit the wall?! Err…ok la gitu. There wasn’t any boat pun at that time. But the river was seriously marvelous la…
Arriving Arrowtown, the ambience has changed to 1960s. How I wish I was in white corset, fluffy dress and net-hat, with a lacey umbrella, sipping tea by the gold-mining cafe. WHAT? GOLD-MINING? Yup, gold was everywhere during that time. Kalo aku ada, aku kikis-kikis emas tu!
We stopped for about 15minutes, then we off to Wanaka.

On the way… “Eh, ikut Cromwell ke Cardrona ni?” “Cromwell yang ada buah-buah tu kan?”

“But lalu ikut Cardrona LAAAAAGI cun!” Hubby excitedly stressed out the word LAGI CUN, since he was the one who searched for the info.

Cardrona
We droved uphill, experiencing a zig-zag road, and shouted “MAK AIH! CANTIKNYER!!!” right after we saw beautiful scenery via the rear view mirror and side mirrors. We stopped at one stopping area over the hill, and snapped more photos of the landscape.
While driving on this road, we noticed that all mountain tips were at the same level as us. Kira salji tu dah sama paras dengan kitorang. Gile best! Unfortunately we can’t stop alongside the road coz it wasn’t on the straight line.
Wanaka - Lake Wanaka - Puzzling World
We finally reached Wanaka and straight away headed to the lake side. Stopped for a while at i-Site to grab few magnets. I forced hubby to take few nostalgic pose. Cantik, ada kabus!TAPI TAK LAMA! I started to jump around and do summersault berpusing sebab tak tahan akan keseronokan berganda itu.
For a de-tour, we drove to the Puzzling World, where we did funny pose all over the crazy architectures like Tumbling Towers and Leaning Tower of Wanaka. Tanak kalah, this tower is leaning at 53degrees, while Pisa tower only leans at 6degrees. Kahkahkah! Malang skali bawah tower tu ada bus! Bleh?! Rosak gambar aku…We left Wanaka and passed by one steel bridge at Luggate. Followed by a small town called Tarras where the sunlight started to shine on some parts of fields and mountains. SubhanaAllah!

Luggate - Tarras - Lindis Pass
After 40km driving, we saw this.
“MASYAALLAH! NI KE LINDIS PASS???” Hubby screamed and his saliva started to splash all over the dashboard. “OK! THIS IS THE BEST ROUTE THROUGHOUT THE TRIP! I WANNA LIVE HERE!” He added.

Sabar bro…sabar…
"HAAH, CUN GILE OKKKKKKKKK!"

Sabar makcik...sabar...
Without a doubt, Lindis Pass was truly incredible. An 18km scenic reserve, with hillslopes and yellow brownish tussock grassland. Aku sampai tatau nak pilih gambar mana dah nak letak sini. Ocassionaly I can see shrubs, hoping to see Kiwi or Possum crossing the road, alive. But neah…

It was late evening, and we were on the right time (as per suggested in any website, early morning or late evening is the best time to view Lindis Pass, for the sunlight will hit the hill right on place.) Understand that some people might found this pass, empty, but for us, it was immensely gorgeous korangggggg! Siap nampak asap terbakar lagi!
We stopped for a while at Waitaki District welcome signboard, and enjoyed sunset. Tak tau nak cakap apa dah…dah takde perkataan dah yang aku bleh tulis kat post NZ ni, sume dan abis pakai! Hahaha!
“So…tido mana malam ni? Anyway, we didn’t pay anything yet at Twizel Holiday Park…”

“How bout Omarama? Dekat je pun esok nak pegi Twizel…”

Omarama
Right after we saw one big fat white merino statue at the junction, we knew that this will the best place to stay for the night. Luck was on our side, we managed to get a cabin at Top 10, with cookware and cutleries (kena bayo NZD5 untuk pinggan, pejadah).

Aman je tempat ni. Senyap sunyi.

We turned on the heater and left the room, to cook. We cooked instant noodles and ate. Felt like home, as there was no one else in the kitchen.