A chance meeting sent Alina Suchanski down history lane and prompted her to discover an alternative route to Queenstown.
I woke to a loud thud, my car stuck on top of a grassy knoll on the side of the road overlooking Lake Wakatipu.
On my way home from a week-long training course in Queenstown, exhausted, I had fallen asleep at the wheel.
I was about to call for help when John and Aloma von Tunzelmann stopped.
They not only pulled me out of my predicament, but also drove behind me all the way to Te Anau to make sure I reached home safely.
During my subsequent visit to the couple's Te Anau home I was introduced to the fascinating von Tunzelmann saga.
John's family traces its roots back 11 generations to the 16th century's Georg Tunzelmann, of Braunschweig (anglicised as Brunswick, and the home of the paint pigment known as Brunswick green), Germany.
The family's fortunes waxed and waned during time spent in Estonia and England, before a branch emigrated to New Zealand.
The von Tunzelmanns were among the first European settlers in the Lake Wakatipu area.
Mt Nicholas on the west side of Lake Wakatipu and the Von River are both named after John's great-great-uncle, Nicholas von Tunzelmann who came to New Zealand in 1859 accompanied by his sister, Aline.
Not even a year after his arrival, Nicholas joined William G. Rees and three others on a journey of exploration from Otago to the West Coast.
In the book Strangers and Pilgrims, the von Tunzelmann Saga, author Douglas S. Coombs describes their arduous trip.
On reaching Lake Wanaka, they were confronted by snowy ridges to the west and south, prompting other members of the party to turn back.
Rees and von Tunzelmann persevered along Cardrona Valley and on reaching the top of the Crown Range saw the magnificent view of Lake Wakatipu and surrounding land.
Legend has it they tossed a coin to decide who would have which side of the lake.
Whether it's true or not, Rees ended up with a large holding to the east and south of the lake, from Arrowtown down to Kingston, including Coronet Peak, Ben Lomond, the Remarkables and Ben Nevis.
Von Tunzelmann got rights to Fernhill Run on the western shore of Lake Wakatipu, from the Greenstone River down to the source of the Von River, initially including Mt Nicholas Station, which was later transferred to the White brothers.
The beginnings were difficult indeed, but five years on Nicholas was joined by his sister Elise, her husband Gilbert Pickett and their six children.
The brothers-in-law became partners, which helped to share both the financial and the physical load. Together they built a stately homestead on a flat above the river.
John's great-grandfather, John Emanuel von Tunzelmann, a qualified veterinarian, arrived in New Zealand in 1862 and initially helped his brother Nicholas on the Fernhill Run before starting out on his own.
In 1868 he was granted a 10-year lease of Birchwood Run, which bordered his brother's land along the Greenstone River.
Neither of the von Tunzelmann brothers succeeded as farmers.
Nicholas went to Australia to try his hand at growing fruit, but returned to take the position of a station master at the Kingston railway station.
John Emanuel later became a master of languages at Christ's College in Christchurch.
"At Wakatipu, as elsewhere throughout New Zealand, many of the original pioneer settlers were defeated, but others who followed flourished due to changing times and drawing on the experiences of their predecessors,'' Coombs writes.
Having learned about the von Tunzelmann saga and heard about the road, referred to by the locals as the Von, I felt compelled to check this alternative back-country route to Queenstown.
So one sunny morning my partner George and I set out on what turned out to be a wonderful day trip from Te Anau via the Von Road to Walter Peak Station to catch TSS Earnslaw to Queenstown.
At about halfway between Te Anau and Mossburn we turned off State Highway 94 into the Mavora Lakes road which follows the Mararoa River north towards its source.
We drove until we came to a Y-junction with its left prong continuing to Mavora Lakes and the right one, the Von Road, heading to Lake Wakatipu.
It is a truly spectacular drive alongside the Von River with the Eyre Mountains to the east and the Thomson Mountains to the west.
The road cuts through farmland where lambs and calves frolicked in green pastures while their mothers stoically observed our progress from behind the farm fence.
We crossed the bridge on the Von River leaving behind Southland and entering Otago, as the border between these two districts is marked by the river's north and south branches.
Their confluence is the southern tip of what was once Nicholas von Tunzelmann's Fernhill Station.
The road then climbs gently and from the top we could see the deep gorge carved by the Von River.
We stopped at the bottom of the pass for a picnic on the riverbank.
Sheep were grazing in the foothills and we noticed some gnarly apple trees, remnants of an orchard that may have once belonged to a pioneer's dwelling.
It was as if time had stood still.
We continued our trip through the land Nicholas von Tunzelmann "broke in'' for farming and marvelled at how hard it must have been, without cars, quad bikes, or even the road.
Near the Station Burn crossing we stopped to check an old stone house.
Built in the 1860s by the White brothers as a kitchen for Mt Nicholas Station, it is still in use and can be hired for functions.
The terrain flattened and, once we passed Mt Nicholas on our right, we saw the first glimpse of Lake Wakatipu shimmering in the distance.
At the mouth of the river a cluster of pines and poplars marks the site of the von Tunzelmann-Pickett homestead, now long gone.
The road veers west along the lake shore and goes through farmland all the way to Walter Peak Station, where TSS Earnslaw stood at the jetty, ready to sail across to Queenstown.
The crew weren't sure what to do with us, as not many passengers board the steamship at this end of the lake, but they let us through and soon we were on our way.
In Queenstown we had just enough time to have lunch and a walk along the lakeshore before catching the 4pm cruise back to Walter Peak Station.
As the setting sun cast its amber glow on the surrounding mountains, we drove back to Te Anau with a new appreciation of the hardships the early pioneers had to endure, so that 150 years later, we could travel through this country with ease and pleasure.
