Queenstown to Waipara

A slight cock-up in the hostel booking department today meant I booked the hostel after the one I meant to, and I didn't realise until I put the address into SatNav, oh well a 7 hour drive today. The scenery however was stunning as a drove up through the mountains where they filmed The Lord of the Rings. I stopped for lunch at Lake Waitaki (which is where I had initially planned to stop the night) which has a strange blue hue to it, surrounded by towering mountains. and is used for a hydro-electric plant. I stopped again on the outskirts of Christchurch for some tea and then had 1 hour left to drive to the 'hostel' I had booked. The hostel is actually a number of old railway guards cars that were salvaged when they were scrapped by New Zealand Railways and they have been turned into bunkrooms. I have a whole one to myself, complete with the original seating and fittings at one end and 4 bunks in what was the luggage compartment.

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