Wanaka to Queenstown
Jackamy
Paul & Derry Harper
Tue 24 Aug 2010 00:30
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Tuesday 24th August
From Wanaka we moved on to Queenstown
taking the Crown Range Pass a narrow, twisting and turning mountain road
stopping at Cardrona a gold rush town in the 1860's on the way.
 Wild west country
 Cardrona Hotel opened in 1863
and Our Wheels
Crown Range Pass and Queenstown
viewed from the Pass
 Post Boxes with a
difference
Queenstown lies nestled on the
shores of Lake Wakatipu baked by the rugged peaks of The Remarkables
mountain range.
The peace and tranquility of
Queenstown was broken when sheep shearers Thomas Arthur and Harry Redfern
discovered gold in the Shotover River in 1862. The Shotover River is the second
highest gold bearing river in history, second only to the Klondike River in
Northwest Canada.The river was so lucrative it yielded a record breaking 57.6 kg
of gold in just one day.
The government bought the wild
frontier town in 1863, and pronouncing it fit for a queen,christened it
Queenstown.
The gold waned in the early
1900's and the population dropped from its boom high of over eight and a half
thousand to less than two hundred.
Today Queenstown has an
amazing array of activities, bungy jumping, caving, whitewater rafting, jet
boating, skiing, skydiving to name a few.
 View of Lake Wakatipu from our
bedroom and the oldest house in Queenstown
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