Arrowtown

To say that the South Island of New Zealand is beautiful would be stating the bleedin’ obvious, so let’s just take that as a given, especially at this time of year when the leaves are all turning various shades of red, orange, yellow and gold. Everywhere you turn is a beautiful lake, a beautiful mountain, a beautiful something or other. But where are all the people? 1million people live in the South Island but we hardly pass a house or even car on the roads as we drive along. Sheep, yes. Cows, yes. Alpacas, yes. But no houses or cars. Which means that on long stretches of empty, straight road, a 100kmh speed is easily broken. Unfortunately, it also means that lone police women parked up at the side of the road can get a good angle on us with radars as we come around the corner doing 111kmh and speed up to 120kmh…I did ask her to be kind with her fine and she agreed to put us down at 115kmh meaning the fine was $80 instead of $120. A lot more reasonable that the $250 we were fined in Oz.

Arrowtown makes a perfect halfway stop and, in this drizzle and slight fog, the autumnal leaves, stone buildings and wood fires burning give the place a slight Lake District feel. Except I don’t think you can get a shot of wheatgrass in the Lake District. It’s my lame attempt to redress the balance after so much wine consumption.