Zards Backyard: Tourist Trap

[Zardnaar]

So we went on a road trip today to buy some pies. 3 hours there, 3 hours back plus screwing around time.

My birthplace. Cromwell.


The weather sucked but beats 30+ central Otago is hot as hell.

Last time I was over this way was multiple trips 1999-2001.

This was a gorge when I was a kid. Now it's a lake.



Anyway didn't meet any real locals place was full of tourists. Mostly Australians and Aucklanders the few people who lived there were somewhat recent arrivals.

One was born in Queenstown which is a complete tourist trap and it's reasonably close by. Old bridge.



It was changing in the 90's fair enough but the amount of change in 20 years was kinda shocking. They've essentially priced the average NZers out. It's super expensive over there I can't afford to live there and we own our house freehold.

Kinda felt like an attraction myself "you're the guy who drove from Dunedin to buy pies (we only bought 30 odd)". Gah.

Small Town NZ.


Very few kids, just tourists and a few NZ boomer types. Wasn't even sure the people serving me were locals. Got a laugh "I was born here do I count as a local". No one I spoke to remembered the 80's except one who was born in Queenstown.

Sigh.

Downriver wasn't to bad old hometown as a kid (age 3-4). Had changed a bit but wasn't ruined. Half hour up the road....

 

[EnglishEdward]

Looks alright on Google Maps.

Were any boys born there named Thomas or Oliver?

 

[E.man]

Moved away from my hometown for 20 years and forced back by incinerating firestorm.

The place is twice as big, I don't know where anything is, I don't know where the roads go, the place is full of immigrants that don't know anything more than 10 years ago.

It's not my hometown now. I don't have one after the bloody fires.

 

[Zardnaar]

Looks alright on Google Maps.

Were any boys born there named Thomas or Oliver?

Pretty area it's close to Queenstown.

 

[9gkj548hkm20vk79dj689bnj4]

what a lovely day. *sarcasm*

 

[Zardnaar]

what a lovely day. *sarcasm*

Better than up north.

 

[Kyriakos]

Tbf I doubt anything in NZ is realistically a "tourist trap" ^^

 

[Plains-Cow]

Driving without the sun in your eyes is nice.

 

[Zardnaar]

Tbf I doubt anything in NZ is realistically a "tourist trap" ^^

Queenstown is. Millions of dollars to live there huge cost of living expensive and crowded.

 

[Kyriakos]

Queenstown is. Millions of dollars to live there huge cost of living expensive and crowded.

Why, though? It appears to be a very small town (16.000 citizens?).

The mountain looks nice, but other than that what's the allure?

At least Auckland has roughly the population of Thessalonike.

 

[Birdjaguar]

Queenstown is. Millions of dollars to live there huge cost of living expensive and crowded.

That is not the definition of a tourist trap. A high cost of living does not attract tourists.

 

[Zardnaar]

Why, though? It appears to be a very small town (16.000 citizens?).

View attachment 650408

The mountain looks nice, but other than that what's the allure?

At least Auckland has roughly the population of Thessalonike.

Mountains, lake, adventure tourism, ski resort, playground for Auckland.

Queenstown is more expensive than Auckland which is California levels of expensive.

 

[Zardnaar]

That is not the definition of a tourist trap. A high cost of living does not attract tourists.

It's related is main point

 

[Kyriakos]

Mountains, lake, adventure tourism, ski resort, playground for Auckland.

Queenstown is more expensive than Auckland which is California levels of expensive.

If it's any consolation, google tells me your own city has some better looking buildings than Auckland

 

[Zardnaar]

If it's any consolation, google tells me your own city has some better looking buildings than Auckland

They tore down their old buildings 1960's iirc. Well not all of them but you get the idea.

Aucklands kind of a dump as well unless you have money for the boat lifestyle/live in the nice suburbs.

 

[bene_legionary]

Cromwell was nice when I stopped over there for a couple of hours. Didn't stay any longer though. Haven't been to Dunners in a few years now, must be nearing 5 or 6 years.

Auckland's humid and rainy. Less busy than I was really expecting. Christchurch needs less gravel Wilson parking lots and a few more high rises, then we might look decent. Both Auckland and Christchurch have this bloody intermittent rain and sunshine. Rain for 20 minutes, sun for 10, rain for 20...

 

[amadeus]

I’m just yapping off the top of my head but I think as an American that NZ is kind of an interesting country in that it’s so geographically isolated, low in population, lacking in natural resources commanding high prices on the global market (not to downplay the arable lands or natural beauty thereof) and is still yet a prosperous country. Not only that, but in international diplomacy it punches well above the weight class of even larger, more centrally-located nations.

I’d pay it a visit if I had the time and money so as not to have to fly cattle-class.

 

[Birdjaguar]

The inability (difficulty?) of small, rich NZ to fix basic social problems that show up on more massive scales elsewhere seems to say that fixing them in other places is unlikely.

 

[Zardnaar]

The inability (difficulty?) of small, rich NZ to fix basic social problems that show up on more massive scales elsewhere seems to say that fixing them in other places is unlikely.

Political will/reality. We did fix them then 70's/80's happened.

 

[Zardnaar]

I’m just yapping off the top of my head but I think as an American that NZ is kind of an interesting country in that it’s so geographically isolated, low in population, lacking in natural resources commanding high prices on the global market (not to downplay the arable lands or natural beauty thereof) and is still yet a prosperous country. Not only that, but in international diplomacy it punches well above the weight class of even larger, more centrally-located nations.

I’d pay it a visit if I had the time and money so as not to have to fly cattle-class.

Isolation might contribute to the relative lack of corruption and prosperity. That and Scottish liberalism was executed.