2021 SI Road Trip Day 5

A beautiful morning from Kinloch and an awesome road to Cromwell.

We awoke at various times this morning and enjoyed some of the breakfast fare at Kinloch Lodge.  It was an amazing sunrise and the chance to relax a little bit around the area as the first event for the day was a guided technical tour of Camp Glenorchy.  Sophie and I raced up to the beginning of the Routeburn Track and walked 15 minutes into the view of a huge waterfall in the distance.  A few photos and returned to the car just before a bit of rain kicked in.  We took our time getting back towards Glenorchy before deciding en route that there were a few Lord Of The Rings locations up in Paradise that would be worth visiting.   I only had to raise the Model X to High Suspension settings once.

From Paradise, we returned to Glenorchy, and the Living Building Challenge that created the eco-camp, Camp Glenorchy.  John Pope guided us around the venue which includes buildings made from lots of recycled materials, multiple heating systems, ventilation systems to make any Covid ward jealous, over 500 solar panels, a 200kWh storage battery, capable of 100kW output, ground bore heat pumps, nitrogen-eliminating plantings, composting toilets, sensors everywhere and other mind-boggling stuff.

From there, a quick race to the Queenstown chargers to top up for a zip to the top of the highest sealed road in New Zealand (Crown Range Road) and a visit to the most famous Tesla Destination Charger at the Cardrona Hotel.

Then to our evening in Cromwell.