On the Road from Southland to Queenstown
by Michelle Berridge - February 10th, 2009. Filed under: South Island.If you’re planning a New Zealand road trip, here’s a tip: make sure your itinerary includes State Highway 6! Starting from the town of Invercargill in Southland and finishing in the lakeside resort of Queenstown, this drive offers a tableau of gorgeous scenery that will have you pulling the car over and popping the lens cap off your camera all the way.
I took a bit of a detour via the Southland town of Gore, rejoining State Highway 6 at Lumsden. If you’ve been exploring Te Anau and Fiordland, on the western side of the South Island, you’ll arrive on State Highway 6 just north of Lumsden.
The rolling countryside of Southland, dotted with sheep or neat rows of hay bales, gives way to ochre hills as you cruise up the broad valley between the Garvie and Eyre mountain ranges. As you gain altitude the sky opens up wide over Southland behind you, while ahead the mountains of the Southern Lakes region stand shoulder to shoulder.
And then, suddenly, a glimpse of the lower arm of Lake Wakatipu – guaranteed to take your breath away! Today, mist sweeps over the mountain tops above rugged rock faces that drop sharply into the slate-grey lake. Clouds part randomly, sending shafts of soft yellow light across the cliffs.
There are few places in the world that could deliver on the promise of a first impression like this – fortunately, Queenstown is one of those places. From the snug backdrop of velvety pine-clad hills to the lake and mountains on which the town gazes, you’d be hard-pressed to sketch a more picture-perfect mountain setting. One final tip: make sure your camera’s fully charged because you’re definitely going to need it!
