Today’s plan involves just two things, but in opposite directions. For those who remember my last trip to Cardrona I drove up during a blizzard, had trouble with snow chains and lost the remote locking part of my car keys. I’d wanted to go back there in the summer because I’d heard there was a view. From Lake Hayes to the ski field turn-off is about 30 kms, so about 20 minutes drive in Australia, however the road from here goes over the Crown Range. This road is quite steep and has a number of 15 km/hr hairpin bends, so it was more like a 40 minute trip. It is all sealed and offers excellent views back to Queenstown.
Once over the Crown Range we quickly stopped at the village of Cardrona to take a photo of the much photographed Cardrona Hotel. This was used in a Speights beer advertisement and several replicas of the hotel have since been built. Cardrona itself was another goldrush town and the Cardrona River is a tributary of the Clutha River that flows through Alexandra.
Just after the is the turn-off to the Cardrona Ski-field. The road is 14km of dusty gravel road that goes up to the the resort base at approximately 1600m. The road it a bit scary in places, partly because of the lack of guard rails and the fact you can see nothing but sky (or blizzard in the case of my last visit). The resort becomes a Mountain Biking venue in the summer, so the cafe and shop were still open. I put the drone up in the car park and you can see pretty much all the way back to Lake Wanaka and Mt Aspiring.
The second half of the day we planned to drive to Glenorchy which is right at the top of Lake Wakatipu. This area has been used in several films and TV shows, the most notable being ‘Top of the Lake’ a BBC production starring Elisabeth Moss (Mad Men) and Nicole Kidman in the second series. Glenorchy is about 45 kms from Queenstown, but the traffic was manic so it took a while to get through town. We’d hoped to find petrol, however then the refuel light came on about 20 kms short of Glenorchy I was quietly concerned. That aside, this is one of the great drives and the road follow the shore of the lake. This view was looking back to Queenstown.
We didn’t make too many stops on the way as our lunch plan had also been affected by the traffic snarls in Queenstown, so we saved lunch for our arrival in Glenorchy which ended up being after 2 PM. The Glenorchy Hotel looked like the best option and a fine steak sandwich confirmed that. We had a wander about the town, which didn’t take long. I found a spot to put the drone up on the way back… and yes there is a little snow in the far background.
We made another stop on the way back at a more elevated part of the road. As I said above … one of the truly great drives!
We finished the day with dinner at a local cafe within walking distance of the house. They make a particularly good pizza and had a good wine list. When we got back to the house Deb’s cousins husband had arrived so we had a good catch up with him.
Until tomorrow!
Rob's "Beats Working" Blog 
Your photos are beautiful, especially the views toward Glenorchy. We used to live in Fernhill in Queenstown and have driven the road to Glenorchy many times. The colours are just the same as in your photos – spectacular scenery!