Gentle Annie, Roaring Meg
Heading north on SH6, we were again struck by the magnificent views. They might all be mountains, but each one is spectacular in a different way. At one point today the road clung to the side of a cliff with a river on the other side and steep wooded slopes beyond that. At other times we drove between herds of sheep or cattle, there was a mountain-ringed plateau, a lake and fruit orchards and for most of the day immaculate rows of grape vines. You can’t get tired of the variety this place has to offer.
As you drive in NZ, you notice that all the little streams and culverts you cross are named. Today we met Gentle Annie, followed shortly afterwards by Roaring Meg. We had to wonder if they were related.
Our first port of call was the Gibbston Valley Winery. We’d intended to stop at Chard Farm, but I thought the gravel road up to the estate would be too much for Ermintrude. Diane had a tasting of three local wines, a Sauvignon Blanc, a Pinot Gris and a Pinot Noir, all of which were very acceptable. The tasting notes for the Pinot Noir included the phrase “a slither of barrel funk”; pretentious wine buffs exist the world over! I didn’t indulge as we were on another challenging road, but my coffee was the best I’ve had since we arrived in NZ.
It was a lovely sunny day so we made good time to Lake Wanaka and checked in to the Kiwi campsite. After the mega-site at Queenstown, this was lovely; good sized pitches, well spaced and first class amenities. There’s even a spa and sauna, and our pitch was surrounded by lavender plants in full bloom.
We set out to walk the Waterfall Creek Track, along the shores of the lake. The lake is the fourth largest in NZ and the waters are crystal-clear. Walking back, we stopped off at Edgewater resort for a glass of wine by the lakeside.
After that we strolled into the town of Wanaka. This is another modern resort town but smaller and much nicer than Queenstown. And we had our first Indian meal of the holiday in the Spice Room.
We’d been wondering how far to travel tomorrow, because it is expected to be very wet again for the next two days, so when we got back to the site we went into reception and had a chat to Andrea, the site owner. She was very helpful, looking up weather forecasts and telling us about things to do on the way. In the end we decided we’d head straight for Franz Josef, which is further than we normally do in a day, but will avoid the heavier rain expected tomorrow night at Haast, our other possible stopping place.
If this is my last post, blame Andrea!
Steve and Diane's New Zealand Adventure 
There is indeed a connection between the Roaring Meg and the Gentle Annie — according to New Zealand novelist Essie Summers, who for a while was the rector’s wife at St. Andrew’s Presbyterian Church in Queenstown, they were each named for one of the wives of the men working on the project — each wife, one perceives, having a well-established reputation.
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Sorry, I should have been more specific: “the project” was the project of building the highway through the Kawarau Gorge.
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However, it should be said that Summers was a rector’s wife writing novels for Mills and Boon, and it is quite likely that the whole “wives of men working on the highway project” thing was a euphemism for “prostitutes servicing miners.” At any rate, they were two ladies who lived there at the same time and whose personalities were well known to the men of the community.
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Thanks for the update. It’s good to see that people are still coming across our travel blog after nearly three years.
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