Journey to Queenstown

It rained relentlessly in Dunedin overnight from Friday to Saturday. In the morning, I got a phone call very early from David. He and Chanel whose flight from Australia had just arrived in Christchurch. However all flights to Queenstown on Saturday were cancelled and no more were available for at least two days. There were no buses running due to the flooding. I advised them to book into a hotel so that they could relax, warm and dry, while they considered their options. That's exactly what they did; and also by checking online they discovered that they could transfer to a flight from Christchurch to Queenstown on Sunday morning. When they asked the Air New Zealand desk clerk why they had been told there was a two day wait, she was very defensive and said that they use a "different system" which seems very inefficient! 

So that was great news, and next the rest of us had to plan how we would get to Queenstown. In the morning all roads out of Dunedin were closed, so we went over to St Clair for brunch at Starfish. When in doubt, go for brunch! It was very pleasant and the sea was absolutely spectacular, with huge waves crashing onto the beach. By early afternoon one road opened and so we set off westwards. The journey was interesting to say the least! Large sections of road were partially flooded, we had to navigate past small landslides and some edges of the road were washed away. The rivers were overflowing and the fields had turned into shallow lakes. However when we were driving along the main road we saw a sign which informed us that the road was closed ahead due to snow. We debated whether to risk it but we all agreed that it would be more sensible to follow the officially open route. Unfortunately this turned a three hour drive into a five hour drive! However Jamie and then James did a valiant job of driving. The snowiest point was going over the Lindis pass, by which time it was completely dark! At last we arrived in Queenstown and found our apartment. Jamie had researched and booked it and my goodness he did a good job! The apartment is absolutely gorgeous, immaculate, on three levels and overlooking the lake. The decor is beautiful. We walked down the short but steep path to the centre of town and Jamie and Aisling showed us around the attractive and lively centre. Then we bought burgers from the hugely popular "Fergburger" (there is always a queue outside it!) and ate them back at the apartment before retiring, exhausted, to our very comfy beds.