June 6th, 2009

Magical Queenstown

Dont you love it when a place you haven’t been to for many years turns out to be even better than you remember it?In 1982 I had been to Queenstown and Arrowtown briefly while touring with the musical “Evita” so when friends suggested I come down in the autumn to catch the fabulous colours, there was no hesitation.Even though I knew the stone fruit and cherries would not be in season and the Cromwell Farmers Market was over at Easter, lets face it, grapes had well and truly imprinted themselves on the landscape and what was bad about that!

Flying into Queenstown was almost like a natural version of the old Hong Kong airport with mountains replacing the high-rise buildings.Spectacular! The wind must have been blowing the right way as we swept up the Frankton arm of Lake Wakatipu giving us a grandstand view of the area(planes often land from the north).Stepping out of the terminal, all I could say was WOW as the Remarkables towered above me and my eyes were drawn magnetically to these dramatic hills. Last time they had some  snow on them I remembered in a flashback.My friends had given me a whistle-stop tour of the area around the back of Queenstown and Arrowtown and all the way up  to Cromwell so the following day I went back to the spots that I had picked out as photo opportunities and good food spots.On a perfect autumn day there is no better way to spend the day than tootling around at leisure, photographing the  stunning scenery,  sampling the produce  of the region and visiting local artists.

I had lunch at Gibbston Valley Winery that day after doing their wine tour and smelling the aroma of crushed grapes (vintage time here)The day was warm enough to sit in the courtyard and I enjoyed a Duck Rillette with muscatels, pickled vegetables and toasted Turkish bread followed by a Valhrona Manjari chocolate  tart with mandarin sorbet, chunks of brownie, Persian fairy floss and dried chillies! Yes,chillies. They were crunchy and fab with the dark chocolate.When I travel and stay with friends, I cook dinners for them and finding the wonderfully stocked Mediterranean Market out the  back of Queenstown was a bonus. They even had my favourite Rachel Scott Ciabbata but on the Monday , no fish, so a quick trip to the Fresh Fish Co in Arrowtown provided me with the best fat Groper fillets I had ever tasted .I served this grilled with a hint of Moroccan Ras el Hanout spice and a salsa of coriander , semi-dried tomatoes ,lemon rind and olive oil.We were all swooning with delight at the quality of the fish.

The dinner guest that night was the amazing Da’Vella Gore, an artist ,marriage celebrant,and gardener who has created along with her son, a chapel recycled with  the timber from an old church on the West Coast,a reception lodge like something out of Lord of the Rings and fabulous garden bordering Lake Hayes in a setting that would bring tears to your eyes.Do check out the website (see links) and dont miss it if you are in the area.

Posted by Sue Story  //  Filed in Gourmet travel