We started out the day with a hearty breakfast of eggs on toast. I managed to scam a quick bit of internet from one of the nearby neighbors who didn't have a password on his wireless network. I was only a moment so hopefully they didn't mind.

Riverton still has the very charming "small town" feel to it... like the US in the 1950's. People don't lock their doors (or put passwords on their wireless) and basically all know one another. Leah knew someone everywhere we went... she had gone to school with Wayne (the paua jeweler); the woman at the grocery store was a high school classmate; one of the girls at a table near us at the cafe was a former student from her teaching days; and so on.

I packed my bags and Leah even gave me an extra shopping bag for my snacks. We then headed out early. Since it was Good Friday, she was worried things might not be open and we had forgotten to get gas the day before just in case. Fortunately the local station had an automated pay kiosk. Leah had never paid with her card before, but luckily a man taking up his boat at the next pump was able to help.

Since that all went so smoothly, we had a bit of extra time for another tour of the city. We drove down the street for a look at the beach near the house. Some horses were just coming back from a morning ride.

Next we went downtown and parked by the bridge. There was a lot of history in this estuary. Of notable importance was the Compass Dolphin. In the early 1800's, sailing ships would have to "box their compasses," since these old devices were not constant and could produce errors due to the effect of iron on the ship. So the ship was moored to the Compass Dolphin and bearings were taken from various points, such as a rock or tree. The ship was moved around and readings were noted. Eight bearings were taken at regular intervals and then totaled with the average producing the correct bearing.

The compass dolphin.. yes, that's it... the set of seemingly random pillars in the water

Another point of interest were the scant remains of the old bridge, which had been used for both cars and trains. Eventually the train was moved to its own bridge in 1912, consisting partially of a large dirt berm. The "new" car bridge (the current one) was built in 1935. There hasn't been a train down here for the past 15 years, so the train bridge was taken down but the berm still stands. We walked out along it to get a nice view of the town and estuary, which was filled with kids and people fishing and collecting things.

The old bridge extended from the log and stumps on this side of the water to the wall edge on the other side.

Walking out to the end of the old train track berm.

A view of the "new" bridge to our left...

... and looking up the estuary to our right.

With Leah

When we headed back to the car, we saw a bunch of kids playing around the church. They were killing time until their parents got them for the parade that was going to take place. Every year, a large cross is carried down from the hill. Leah is often a part of it but today she was busy taking me to Invercargill to catch my bus.

Since we were there anyway and she had the key, we popped into the church quickly. The normal decorations had been taken down and the church was looking very austere in keeping with the season (Lent and Easter). On the way out, we met a minister from another church who was headed up the hill for the parade. As always, Leah had known him for a long time, having gone to school together at one point.

St Mary's Anglican Church

Inside

Leah made this amazing banner!

We stopped by the house to grab my bags and headed to Invercargill. On the way, we passed the horse steeplechase track. Some of the old dirt jumps were built by Bob's grandfather!

Some of the lovely old buildings in Invercargill.

Unfortunately many of these might be demolished since they don't meet current earthquake safety regulations.

Every town has serveral memorials honoring fallen soldiers of various wars. This was a particularly lovely one.

The bus stop was in front of the museum. There were many people with large bags there, so we figured we were in the right spot. However when the large Intercity bus pulled up, it was headed to Dunedin and not to Queenstown. All but a few of us got on. Leah noticed another small van parked down the road so she went to ask the driver. It was marked with a different touring company and for a different destination, Te Anau. But yes, this was apparently my correct bus. They had been subcontracted out by Intercity. We stowed out bags in the small trailer being towed behind it and boarded. I waved my goodbyes as the bus departed promptly at 10:45 am.

The bus was lovely... comfortable and not very full. I snagged my usual spot in front for a better view. We passed by farmland filled with cows sheep, deer farms with tall fences, and numerous motorcycles and classic cars (or mostly they passed us), until we reached the tiny town of Mossburn at noon, where we changed to a large bus.

The cops were out in force. On the news it had been announced there was going to be a huge crackdown for drinking and driving this holiday weekend.

Some motorcyclists enjoying the countryside a bit faster than we were

Cows in the pasture, but for how much longer? The extreme drought has unfortunately been forcing farmers to slaughter more cows much sooner. But that either leads to glutting the market or having to invest in freezer storage. This has been a tough season for many industries.

Leaving our little bus in Mossburn

The quaint St. Joan of Arch Catholic Church

Uh... what KIND of nuts are we talking here exactly??

We boarded a much larger bus, which was packed to the gills. Somehow I managed a front seat again though. We returned back to the main motorway up to Queenstown, continuing to pick up passengers at isolated spots along the way... as well as numerous small light-colored butterflies on the windshield. Gradually the view was filled with more and more mountains. We began to see many more cars pulling boats or with kayaks strapped to the roof.

A car passes just as I take the shot of the hills.

The view through a bug-splattered windshield. By the way, have I mentioned these big bales of plastic-wrapped hay yet? Apparently the hay is very tightly wrapped when it is still fresh and wet, so there is a lot of moisture and little air. This prevents it from molding but instead it starts to ferment! No wonder the cows like it so much!

We suddenly turned the corner and got a view of the southern tip of Lake Wakatipu. It was an absolutely spectacular drive all the way up the lake to Queenstown... well, technically Frankton where the airport was located!

Lake Wakatipu

The road clung to the side of the hill, wrapping its way around the lake

Eek! This wasn't the safest place to ride.

The hills to my right

Entering Frankton... most of the bridges in the area were one-lane. You just had to take turns crossing. Some of the larger ones (like here) had traffic signals to help.

Regan texted me that he had landed (having flown down for a few days from Wellington)... but I still had 45 minutes to go. So he said would take care of the rental car then meet me at the bus stop. As it was, I arrived while he was still dealing with that, so I just went to the car rental place... which was not the one he was at. After a bit of juggling, we finally met up, got the car and drove to our backpackers in Queenstown.

Our Toyota Camry from Ace Rental Car

Our room at Bungy Backpackers... complete with numerous Far Side cartoons decorating the wall

We decided to drive up to Glenorchy... mainly because it was probably the only time we'd get to fit it in, secondly because I LOVE saying the name in my exceedingly poor what-is-supposed-to-be-a Scottish accent, and finally because they filmed some Lord of the Rings stuff up there (aka probably pretty darn beautiful). And that it was... very beautiful. The road took us along the upper part of Wakatipu Lake. Queenstown was blue and gorgeous, but our path was leading us into a storm.

Clearly a car for the tourists

Heading into the storm

The sun remained enough to still give us sparkling emerald water.

A large waterfall poured from the cliffs.

We arrived in town about an hour later. Realizing we hadn't eaten anything for a while, we pulled up to the first store we saw. Fortunately it was open for another 15 minutes, so we grabbed some cookies and chips to tide us over. We drove down to the lake and walked out to the pier. It was EXTREMELY windy!

The northern tip of Lake Wakatipu

Steam seemed to be rising up off the lake while rain fell into the mountains.

The pier

Simply stunning!

The Paradise Shelduck is a large goose-like duck found only in New Zealand. It is called Putangitangi in Maori and commonly just as the "Paradise duck." The male is in the front; the female in the back.