Lake Hayes is the small lake that every photographer in the Queenstown area seems to know about, and on a still morning you will see why. The water mirrors the brown and gold hills around it, and in autumn, from April into May, the poplars and willows along the shore turn a brilliant yellow. It sits in the Wakatipu basin between Queenstown and Arrowtown, along State Highway 6, and a walking track loops around the shore in a couple of hours, a fine way to loosen up after a morning in the saddle.
Arrowtown, a few kilometres north, is the historic heart of this area. Gold was found in the Arrow River in 1862, and within months thousands of miners had poured in. The town that grew up then still has a main street of stone and timber buildings, now occupied by cafes, galleries and shops, and avenues of trees planted by the early settlers. Down by the river, the restored huts of the Chinese settlement tell a less romantic story: Chinese miners came to Otago in the 1860s and 1870s, invited at first, then faced discrimination and hardship, and their stone huts and stores are now a protected site.
For riders, this is the gateway to the Crown Range Road, one of the most famous drives in New Zealand. The road begins just north of here, near Arrow Junction, and climbs steeply in a series of switchbacks onto the range. Before you start, the roads around the basin are worth a look: the back road from Lake Hayes to Arrowtown winds through farmland and vineyards, and the route out past Arthurs Point to the Shotover River gorge is a short and twisting ride. The traffic in the Queenstown area can be heavy, especially in summer and during the ski season, with tourists in rental cars and campers who are not used to driving on the left.
Queenstown, twelve kilometres away, has every service you could need, as well as an endless list of adventure activities, from bungy jumping to jet boats. Arrowtown has fuel, a supermarket, cafes and restaurants, and it is quieter and more relaxed than Queenstown. The area is also wine country: Central Otago Pinot Noir is famous, and the Gibbston Valley to the east is lined with cellar doors. The weather can be very changeable, with hot summer days and freezing winter nights, and snow is common on the hills in winter.