II. South Island: Cardrona
We returned to Queenstown from Milford Sound about
7:30 in the evening, too late and too tired to have dinner at the Skyline Restaurant overlooking the city.
We had made reservations before we left on the trek, but decided that showers,
clean clothes, and a later dinner and drinks at the nearby Lone Star Cafe
would suffice.
In the morning, we packed our gear, arranged to meet
Alan and Cheryl ten days later for the Abel Tasman Coastal Track, picked
up our Toyota Corolla and headed for our first night in Wanaka. We took
the mountain road through Cardrona, once a mining town and now a ski area.
The Cardrona Hotel, built in 1863,
features a cottage garden, modern rooms, an honest pub, and Devonshire tea.
