Queenstown – Arrowtown – Toilets – Gondolas – Pizza

April 25 is the National Day of Remembrance in both Australia and New Zealand, honoring the war veterans and those who gave their lives in all the wars that both countries have fought in. Most places are closed today and there were wreath laying ceremonies all over the area.

Before we left for today’s itinerary, we looked out the window and saw a double rainbow arch across the sky. It has been raining hard, but when we were ready to leave the hotel, the sun came out.

Our tour group took the public bus to Arrowtown, a historic gold mining town in the Otago region. It is located on the banks of the Arrow River where scenes from The Lord of the Rings were filmed. There are still many well preserved buildings there that were used by the European and Chinese immigrants who settled during the town’s gold mining era. There was an original miner’s cabin as well as the original pharmacy building, which remains a pharmacy today.

Arrowtown highlights the contribution of Chinese gold miners to the region. Their living conditions were generally poor during the gold rush and most of the Chinese miners spoke very little English. They stayed to themselves, worked hard, but were not treated kindly. The local paper in 1883 had the headline “Almond Eyed Leprosy Tainted Filthy Chinamen!”. And went on to say “that for the past week, Arrowtown has been the center of attraction for about 200 Chinese who have made night hideous with their exploding crackers and their disgusting presence felt in more ways than one.”

The Chinese went to New Zealand because they wanted to strike it rich in the gold mines, but their determination, despite the racism and resentments that they endured, left an enduring strength and respect with the New Zealand nation and in 2002, the then prime minister Helen Clark, formally apologized for the discriminations that took place during the gold rush.

Arrowtown holds its annual autumn festival in April each year and we were lucky to be there on the day the festivities began. This year marks the 39th festival edition.

The movie Lord of the Rings put the New Zealand production company Wingnut on the map. Up until then, they were producing horror films that were not well received, but after the success of Lord of the Rings, they went on to produce The Lovely Bones, The Adventures of TinTin, The Hobbit, and The Beatles: Get Back.

Allan and I decided to take the public bus back into town, and not stay for the festivities, since there was a lot of walking involved and my foot wasn’t feeling up to it.

Before we boarded the bus, I used the bathroom facility in Arrowtown. That was an experience!!!! You wait outside the door until the green light comes on and then you walk into your private bathroom and press the inside button. The door closes and a voice says “Door is now locked. You have 10 minutes until an alarm goes off and the door will open.”Yikes! Then there’s a sign above the toilet that reads that the toilet won’t flush until you start to wash your hands in the sink on the wall. Soap is dispensed, water comes out, the toilet flushes, and then you dry your hands on the fan. You press the button to exit and voila…that’s it! It was pretty cool.

We boarded the bus and asked the bus driver to drop us at the Old Courthouse on Ballarat Street. He had no idea what we meant and so he said he’d drop us at the town square. Of course, we had no clue what that meant. Allan could see the stops that we were approaching on the screen next to the driver, so we waited for Ballarat Street to appear. It never did. The driver never told us where to get off and as we passed by the Old Courthouse, we realized we missed our stop. We had to walk back a few blocks to get to the Skyline Gondola, an adventure we decided to take since it was such a beautiful and sunny day.

Given my fear of heights, this really was out of my comfort zone. The Gondola rises to a height of 1,476 feet and is the steepest cable car lift in the Southern Hemisphere!!!!

And….It was REALLY steep… And my legs were jelly by the time we arrived at the top. We went out to the viewing platform but I could only take a few pics since I didn’t even like being outside and being up so high.

We had a quick bite to eat up at the top in the cafeteria and then we headed back down in the Gondola, during which you could REALLY get the effect of the steepness. There was a sign inside the car that said don’t worry if the gondola slows down or stops. Everything will be okay. Yeah! If that gondola stopped midway, I probably would have passed out.

Fortunately, all went according to plan and we wound up on terra firma. But believe me…I won’t be ziplining anytime soon!!!

We all went out for pizza tonight and it really was very good. It’s an early to bed since we are on the road tomorrow at 7 am for a very busy day!