Lake Wakatipu from Queenstown

Today's the day ...................... to be remarkable

We left all our new friends in Wanaka today and drove south, then west to the place where we will spend the next few days - Te Anau. It was a journey of around 150 miles and it seemed to be range after range of quite incredible mountain peaks.

We stopped for lunch in Queenstown on the shore of Lake Wakatipu. This was a bit of a shock to the system because it was a really, busy, bustling sort of a place after the peace of Wanaka. It's a centre for all the activity sports you could possible wish for - and its setting is quite breath-taking, surrounded as it is by mountains.

This range on the south-eastern side of the Lake is called The Remarkables. Apparently they were so named by Alexander Garvie in 1857 allegedly because they are one of only two mountain ranges in the world which run directly north to south. I think a more likely explanation is that they were called that because, let's face it, they are - remarkable.

I think actually, I am a bit mountained- out today. I just need to go and lie down in a quiet place - and I'll be fine, honestly.................


PS If you can stand it, they look quite good close up.