Wanaka

March 23
Leaving  Wanaka to go back to Queenstown and fly out to Sydney. Can't believe we have been here a month! What a beautiful country! It has flown by! We plan to cross the range of mountains called the Crown range and over the Remarkables into Queenstown today, stopping off in Cardrona.
Should be a beautiful drive.

March 22
Today we slept in  and then did laundry no hung it on the line to dry. Forrest went into town and found a guitar store to play music and I walked around Lake Wanamaker into town, pausing by the lake to eat my lunch. Jane and John started off on bikes, but John returned and dropped his off before walking into town. John stayed and shopped while Jane rode home and the three of us are sitting in the garden relaxing.

I challenged the group to write a limerick for our trip and John and Forrest have been busy doing that. We are going to read them the last night together. Jane had already challenged us to get the best sheep photo and we have been working hard on that. I think riding through the sheep on the way to the hike gave us many photo opportunities. My phone died, however, because in order to use he outlets, you have to turn each outlet on each time and I had forgotten to do that when I plugged my phone in for the evening. Definitely- advantage John - for sheep taking photos.

March 21
We had a typical breakfast of homemade muesli, muffins, fruit salad, coffee and tea  looking out over the garden.and then took off for our hike to the Rob Roy glacier. We had to drive an hour to get there. The last 15 miles were on a unpacked road where we had to wait for sheep to cross, before proceeding along the road. Jane was in seventh heaven surrounded by sheep! We then struck out on the trail . We crossed a swing bridge over a rushing river and then the next 330 meters were all uphill! The trail was in good condition so that was a plus , and it followed the river the entire way. It was by far the warmest day we have had!

We wanted to see the Rob Roy glacier and there were two vantage points to do so. We went to the lower and upper views of the glacier noting about 10 plus waterfalls coming off the glacier. The glacier looked tinged with blue from the lighting. We ate our lunch on the rocks overlooking the glacier and then started our descent. Jane and John stayed at the lower view and we met them on the way down.  It was an absolutely beautiful hike and wonderful drive. We drove through an actual sheep station ( they call them stations and not farms) and saw the herder working his two dogs to move the sheep.

We talked with the B and B owners for awhile and then went to dinner at the Water Bar. They were having a Quiz night, and before we knew it, Jane had signed our crew up and given us a team name. For the rest of the evening we were Paul Bunyon's Children.  There were 9 rounds to the game. There were many questions about cricket, rugby and NZ politics , and despite our distinct disadvantage, we ended up tied for  10th place out of 16 teams. We were happy with that. While we were playing we also wanted dinner. Forrest took our order, brought us drinks, paid and finally a server brought our meals after waiting for 45 minutes to an hour. We did receive complimentary wedges for participating in the game. Then John cleared the table. You don't tip in NZ so maybe tonight we experienced a little less service than usual.

Note:  I'm so glad we didn't make the extra effort to go to the west side to see the Franz Josef glacier when we could hike this beautiful trail to see one. There are 10 plus glaciers in Mt. Aspiring National Park and we saw one of them. We also learned that NZ has 9 Great Walks and Forrest and I were on 3 of them- Tongariro, Abel Tasman and the Keplar. All worth the effort.


March 20
We drove from Te Anau to Arrowtown to have lunch. Arrowtown is very close to Queenstown. Jane drove this morning and did a great job. We stopped to get some sheep photos, but otherwise went straight there. In Arrowtown, many of the original stone buildings built in the 1860's are now used by stores. There is also a Chinese settlement in Arrowtown. Many Chinese were working in the goldfields and then when it panned out ( no pun intended) they created a settlement holding odd jobs. Forrest spoke to a local landscape artist and compared notes about projects, which he found to be si,IKaren. We have been noticing that almost all house have the tin or steel roofs. We have yet to find out why.

We then drove to Kawarau Bridge to watch the people bungee jump off this bridge 40 meters. Unbelievable! Not surprisingly, most of the people were young! We arrived in Wanaka  around 6 pm and have a garden suite and studio rooms in a B and B. Trish and Dave run the B and B and were very welcoming. The views from our room are stunning. We have a patio and beautiful garden to look at before our eyes rise to the mountains and Rob Roy glacier. Horses are wandering the pasture beyond our garden walls . It is gorgeous! Tonight Jane and I just wanted to stay home and eat cheese and crackers and fruit and veggies, so the guys went to dinner. We are enjoying a nice evening at home.