Queenstown

Tuesday morning we left the Golf Course and after a yummy savoury scone and a cup of coffee at the Kingston Railway Cafe we headed up the very pretty, scenic, eastern side of Lake Wakatipu to Frankton stopping on the way to LOOK at the golf course and lovely housing development at Jack's Point where it costs $190 a round, including a cart of course! Then we visited Kelvin Heights, where the Queenstown course is, and booked a tee time for the next day at $60 each a round which is still plenty dear enough for us!
We stayed for 2 nights in the Frankton Motor Camp right on the edge of the lake - it was another fantastically sunny hot day so after getting the washing into the machine we had a swim in the lake - not too cold at all as the water is quite shallow at Frankton so has been warmed by the sun.

The drive to Queenstown

The following morning we biked along the enjoyable, pictureseque lake-edge cycle track into Queenstown itself, about 7 km from the camp. This track is part of the newly developed 100km Queenstown cycle and walking trails and I would say is more than a rival for the Otago Rail Trail. It's nice to ride along seeing the blue lake on one side and the nice housing with lake views on the other. Lots of wandering tourists in the town and a little bit early for lunch when we left to bike back to the camp so we bought a take-home Bean Burrito and Smoked Chicken Roll from the Vudu Cafe which has won awards for being the top cafe in NZ. We have to say it was well deserved - their food is so delicious and stacked full of filling.

A "Remakable" chip about to be made!

After the yummy lunch it was time to play golf on the well-manicured rolling Kelvin Heights Course with the fastest greens we have played on since leaving home. They even trim up the edges of the greens with scissors and we encountered the scissor-girl on several of them so were eye witnesses.

Joe, Great Aunt Trish, Len & Amber

After golf it was a race to get back to camp and have a shower as we had been invited to my great-nephew, Joseph's, (my brother Rodger's grandson) for dinner and we were keen to meet both his partner, Amber, and their very cute 10 month old son Hunter before his bedtime. What a lovely little family they are and we had a fantastic night with them and their friend Joel from Hawkes Bay -such a lot of laughs, good conversation and a lovely barbecue. They have great views of the lake and live very close to the camp so we were able to walk there and back which was a good thing after a few enjoyable wines.

Frankton Primary

This morning we biked, in the opposite direction from Queenstown, around the Kelvin Heights Peninsula, another very scenic ride which went past Frankton Primary, the most beautiful school we have ever seen in the most spectacular setting, before heading towards Glenorchy at the northern end of the lake, a drive of about 44 km from Queenstown.
We have stopped for the night about halfway up at a lovely spot, sheltered from the wind, right by the lake and 25 mile creek. We have amazing, beautiful views of the lake looking down towards Glenorchy and there are a couple of other vans here behind the trees.