We checked out of our Airbnb and drove to the beautiful little town of Arrowtown just north of Queenstown and rented bicycles. For the next two hours we rode along a dirt track that traversed the Arrow river 4 times, two of them on dramatic narrow suspension bridges called swing bridges here.
Vivian took a dramatic tumble off her bike when she went around a corner too fast and ended up head first off the trail. But luckily she got away with just a bit of road rash. In the last picture she’s pointing to where it happened. The ride ended up being just a tad long for Evan but he powered through and we rewarded ourselves with a great lunch at The Fork and Tap, a lovely old stone pub. Then we headed off to drive around the South Island for the next two weeks.
First stop was a tiny settlement called Haast. To reach it we drove past dramatic lakes and blue pools of glacial water, and followed the winding Makarora and then the Haast rivers through dense temperate rain forests and stands of fern trees, arriving there just before sunset.
Notes from Dad 