The other side of Lake Wakatipu

After the excitement of Col’s flight yesterday, we kept our feet on the ground, and drove to Glenorchy, via Queenstown.

Glenorchy is a little place on the far side of Lake Wakatipu, which the Coleslaw (or TSS Earnslaw to everyone else) cruises to, and we fancied seeing what it looked like from land.

It was a classic hilly, twisty turny drive, with amazing views (of course!). We stopped off at a few lookouts en route, and Col put Buzz, the drone up. A guy (from Hungary as it turned out) approached us and asked Col about flying it - turns out he has the exact same model (DJI mini 4 pro) but is a much newer ‘pilot’. Col gave him some tips, we waved good bye and went on our way.

Glenorchy is a little place with a general store and a small number of eateries. We picked an Asian place for lunch, I chose something with rice, we went to order it only to be told they’d run out of rice. It was only 1pm so that can’t have been good for business! I’m sure they’ll be talking about the great rice shortage of 2024 for years to come 😉

After lunch (where they did have the necessary ingredients!) we drove on a bit further only to see our Hungarian friend again. We parked up, Buzz went up again, then our friend joined us on the river bank and put his drone up (not a euphemism 🤭)

Then another guy arrived, and he put his drone up (the exact same type!) It was like a nerdy drony convention, with Col doing the Q&A session!

From the ground, it was impossible to tell which drone was which, but luckily the drones knew who belonged to whom and they each came back to their respective grown-ups when commanded! It was hilarious until we realised we were surrounded by sandflies, which are essentially midges on steroids. When they bite we remembered the itching was off the scale. Got back in the car sharpish, leaving our new drony friends still flying and prob being bitten too.

We’d pretty much run out of proper road at that point, so started the drive back to base with a short food shop en route.

We’ve become quite fond of the hot, freshly roasted chicken they sell at some supermarkets, which makes dinner a breeze 😋Read more