After a rainy crossing of Haast Pass, pretty early in the morning, we finally hit sunshine as we descended into Wanaka, on a lake and with views of the Aspiring Mountain range. What a great place! These Kiwis are the ultimate outdoorsies, and you see it all here. We’ve signed up for three days at a campsite overlooking the lake, and are settling in. Another bonus: no sand flies all day long, a scourge as we passed through Haast.
We looked at recreational options: way too windy for fly fishing, and a front coming in tomorrow, so we took a hike. It was billed as moderate/hard. It was hard, like Gourdon (if you have been to TSL, the village in France, x3). As we got higher and higher the wind was impacting the placement of steps. Bad choice for moi as I wore Keens with Smart Wool socks...a bit sketchy for support as the climb got dicey. After the two hour and twenty minute hard climb, we went for a beer/wine break in Wanaka. Back at our camper van now, with dinner being brie/crackers/hard boiled eggs (we had a good lunch earlier, chicken and potatoes). We are eating well, shopping fresh, and doing a lot of our own cooking.
Today, Saturday, rain overnight and ending by 10:00 am, snowfall at 1200 feet. Beautiful!
Spent the day in Wanaka walking around this lovely little town. We went to The Puzzling World, a quirky place, and had fun with illusions and mazes.
Some anecdotes: While we thought we were quite the adventurers, we met two couples, one our age and one twentysomethingish, and were humbled to learn that the couple our age has been ‘on the road’ since last November. They traveled by sailboat to Fifi. Left the boat and came to Kiwi land to stay until the 17th of April. Then they go get boat, sail to Australia and on and on. They plan to keep doing this for about ten years! The young couple left England in November and return in two months. Thy have been to Australia, Thailand, India and now NZ. They go back to Australia for a month of work and then back home.
Impressive!
Went to local watering hole last night. Denny ordered my wine. I walked up and Denny asked me what I would like. I said ‘ sauvignon blanc’. Denny said, ‘And that is just what I had ordered for you!’ The waitress - a cute little thing - didn’t miss a beat, looked at Denny and said, ‘You liar!’ Cracked us up.
Tomorrow big tramp on Rob Roy.
Please look at these photos from the bottom up. Am too tired to figure out what I did wrong!
What a view we have!
A breakfast/lunch before the hike to Diamond Lake
Yummy organic store. Check out table leg!
Some Wanaka sights
Leaves are turning as fall approaches.
Lake Wanaka in town
Entering Wanaka
More wind!
Town of Wanaka in background
Lake Wanaka
Resting.
Wind!
On the other side of Haast Pass. Weather clearing.
Very few mile markers and hardly any billboards
Path to the pass.
Pouring rain...next time!
Yesss!!!!
Love the signage!
Many, many one-way bridges on the South Island
Walking back in pouring rain
Thunder Creek Falls
On our way to Haast Pass
Typing away. Internet here is very expensive here!
Arrival in Haast Village in pouring rain which continued unabated all night with tremendous winds. First closed-in kitchen area we had come upon, due to pesky sandlflies.
Long one way bridge.
Getting closer to Haast pass. Rainy weather.
More lush forests
Vegetation here is very lush
awwwww........
On the way to Haast Village, 64 kms. from the pass
Beautiful forests
One more shot...we did not go any closer
Fox Glacier
Bye-bye Franz Joseph
And no, we did not put that there!
Ice? Snow? What is that?!!!
What?
See ice?!
Starting hike to glacier
Franz Joseph Glacier
Love those switchbacks!
On Highway 6, main road on the Wild West Coast
Headed to Franz Joseph Glacier, Fox Glacier and Haast Village
the town
Le Cafe de Paris
jade
Hats, rugs... yup
Like the 'and stuff'
hohohohoho
Clock tower
Golfing! Drop $20 NZ (about $14 US) in box. Golf.
yawn
Notice the 'bedroom'!
Evening settling down time... notice ladder to 'upstairs'!
Where we stayed for two nights
Cute
Wild beach in Hokitika
Hilarious!
New World - a grocery food chain Smaller portions of meat etc... Food is very expensive here. But cream is REAL cream. Fabulous!
Hokitika (Hokey tick a) Well-know for jade and ruby stone
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