Arrowtown

Sunday 4th January 

Dareen told me she was staying in a place called Arrowtown & after breakfast, on the road I saw a sign for historic town so I made a stop. 

It was a sweet little place with a 'wild west' feel to it, an ex gold town & settlement. 

I left after a brief look round, but went back, deciding to do a walk, trouble is I had lost my place in the carpark. After 10am it becomes a bit busy. I think because its campsite kicking out time generally. 

I found a spot but wasn't sure it was a proper place. I asked one guy & he said, 'well its got a bit mental so I'm just parking under this tree....I can clear these branches for you if you wanna park behind' & he proceeded to pick up a load of branches & throw them into the bush.

I was trying to squeeze in when someone else just completely blocked the bit I was trying to keep clear. I said, is this a parking space? & he said, 'it us now! Take what you can get around here!'

I Love the straight forwardness of the Kiwis!

It was good as it was shady for my 'cool box' and no-one was blocked in.

The walk was lovely - such beautiful green hills 

Here they were also trying to get rid of fast growing, non indigenous trees

I had some late lunch then left for Twizel where I found the free campsite, which was huge & by a lake. This area is quite flat for miles & surrounded by distant mountains. 

It's a dark sky area, so I was looking forward to seeing the stars but the moon was so bright, having been full only a day ago, it pretty much lit up the sky.