Arrowtown

The Central Otago region (which is where Queenstown and Arrowtown are) is known for its wine... so off we went to try the pinot noir wines here (apparently the speciality of the region).

The first was ok – Peregrine Wines – it was supposed to be award-winning, but we didn’t think was any better than the Marlborough wines we tried in Blenheim. The best bit was the quite stunning setting:

However, the second winery we tried (which Jess chose on a whim... of course) was Akarua, and every single one of the six wines we tried was delicious – it was by far the best sauvignon blanc (despite Marlborough being known for it), and the best pinot gris, and the best pinot noir. It was on a par with Wairau River wines overall. Sadly we were too busy enjoying the wine to take any pictures! It’s well worth a visit though.

The West Coast is rather more full of bugs and flies than the rest of NZ – so the poor van is becoming something of a bug graveyard...

Arrowtown Holiday Park is well located in Arrowtown (a quieter old-fashioned village outside Queenstown), near the shops, and with a pretty good view – though after Franz Josef, I’m not sure we’ll get a better view from our van.

Arrowtown itself is set up to be a traditional-looking village, from the time of the gold rush. You can learn to pan for gold here, and then hire the equipment to go out to the rivers and pan for it yourself.

We won’t be doing that though... instead, we’ll be leaving first thing to drive the Milford-Te Anau Highway, hopefully to get to Milford to do some walking – the day after tomorrow, an almighty thunderstorm currently brewing off the coast is due to hit the West Coast.