Rubbing shoulders with the rich...
"How nice to be staying at a 4-Star Hotel..."
We drove up from Te Anau this morning. Checked into the 4-Star Aurum Hotel and boasting one of Queenstown's most favorable hotel sites. The hotel sits less than five minutes' walk from the busy town centre, while still capturing spectacular views of the lake and mountains. Queenstown is a constant source of intrigue and wonder to the people who pass through on their journeys each season. So it was for nomadic Maori people who came here each year in search of the treasured pounamu (greenstone) and to hunt the now-extinct moa, which was a huge flightless bird similar to a giant ostrich.
According to legend, Matau, a fearsome giant, stole the beautiful princess Manata away from her tribe. Her father, the chief, offered her hand in marriage to the man who freed her. Only the warrior Matakauri was brave enough. He found the giant sleeping in a valley with Manata tied up nearby. With all his might he could not break the rope with his pounamu axe. In desperation, Manata begged him to flee before the giant woke. Her tears broke the magical bonds and he swept her to safety. The warrior returned and built a fire around Matau that burned fiercely and etched his outline into the ground, which is now the 80 kilometre (50 mile) long Lake Wakatipu, with the feet at Kingston, knees at Queenstown and head at Glenorchy.
The mysterious twist in the tale is that the lake actually rises and falls around 5-8 inches every few minutes, which is said to be the giant's heart still beating. A more prosaic scientific explanation is that the movement is to do with wind and wave motion over the extremely deep lake.
Only one night here before pressing onward to the West coast Fox Glacier then northward over the next several days. Much more rain and cooler since leaving the east coast of Dunedin, several days ago. Hope to ride the Queenstown Skyline Gondola this afternoon.
