On the road to Glenorchy

We had talked about visiting horse stables in local Glenorchy, a small community about a minute drive out of Queenstown, but the guided tour started at 8:00 am, and one must make choices about how to spend the morning: eating breakfast or horse-back riding. We picked eating breakfast.

But we make the trip to Glenorchy anyway, and I am quickly reminded that it’s not a good idea to sit in the backseat of a car on an incredibly winding mountain road and try to use the laptop. On our first scenic pull-over, I pop a motion sickness pill and stow away the computer. 

The long and winding road to Glenorchy.

Glenorchy, population 220, offers the aforementioned riding stables, a gas station/car repair shop, a trading post/souvenir stand, and the GY Café, which was recommended by the concierge back at The Rees. The café is small (only a handful of tables) but incredibly comfortable and inviting, with a well-worn green sofa in one corner, a wood-burning stove, and the resident cat curled up on a pillow. 

Although we’ve really just finished a big breakfast, I can’t resist getting a delicious cappuccino and a slice of rocky road, a marshmallow and dark chocolate confection filled with nuts and dried fruit. Peter gets rich berry crumble while Mark takes on a chocolate chip cookie the size of his head. We sit in the corner and are soon joined by the barista, a young, handsome chap who chats us up about his (and New Zealand’s) passion for all things rugby.

Some photos of the lakeside:

We backtrack through Queenstown, although I sleep through most of the ride since the motion sickness pill has made me so drowsy, and head towards the area of the country called Fiordland, which our guide book calls New Zealand’s rawest wilderness area – complete with jagged mountain tops and deep water sounds (fjords) that reach inland from the Tasman Sea.