THE LONG AND THE SHORT OF IT

We haven't mentioned it before, but our van comes with a couple of dashboard aids that have really helped us to enjoy our time on the road. 

Firstly there is a great little gadget, our Tourism Radio.  It has a GPS locator so it knows where we are and gives us information on points of interest as we approach them.  There are interesting historic facts about the next township, advance warning of great viewpoints and lots of suggestions of places to visit or to stop for a break.  In between these bulletins there is a great playlist of driving music linked together professionally by presenters.  Occasionally there are humorous features such as 'The Kiwi Lingo Show' to help us make sense of common Kiwi terms and expressions.  All this is broadcast over a wireless link to the van's own FM radio.

Tourism Radio Unit

It is very effective and it has been great for learning the pronunciation of place names.  We will see a sign and have a go at saying it before Tourism Radio announces the next township correctly!  Definitely worthwhile having this with us on our trip.

Our other dashboard gadget is the more familiar satnav unit.  To be honest, route planning in New Zealand is not that demanding and most townships are linear developments along the single main road.  Bigger towns are often grid layouts so easy to find the way here too.  So we didn't really expect to make use of the satnav.  But it is human nature to be lazy and so the habit of punching the address of the next site and just setting off began.  It offers a selection of four alternative routes to pick from: Fastest; Shortest; Easiest; Economical.  Usually they are pretty much the same so a quick stab at Fastest is typical.

There are two main options for the first part of our journey from Wanaka to Te Anau.  Either to follow State Highway 6 along the Clutha River Valley and Lake Dunstan to Cromwell and then follow the Kawarau River Valley to Queenstown. Or the 'Quickest', 'Shortest' and 'Economical' route on the Crown Range Road.

As we climbed steadily up the picturesque Cardrona Valley past the ski area our ears popped with the increasing altitude.  Even when we stopped at the magnificent viewpoint high above Queenstown (thank you for the tip Tourism Radio!) there was no clue as to what lay ahead.

View towards Queenstown from Crown Range Road Viewpoint

As we began our descent the reason for all of the signs we had passed warning of vehicle length restrictions became clear.  Suddenly the satnav screen looked like a hyperactive child's Etch-a-Sketch as the road looped back in a succession of hairpin bends on an increasingly alarming gradient.

Satnav or Etch-a-Sketch?

We were delighted that we let the satnav plan this particular route on The Crown Range Road.  Had we reverted to manual route planning methods, we may have decided to select 'Longest' and would have missed this breathtaking thrill ride into the adventure capital of the world, Queenstown.