Well they were right, Lake Wanaka mountains need to be seen with snowcaps; truly a picturesque place. We’re beginning to understand that most towns & cities are smaller by UK standards, Wanaka consist of a main street with a couple of off roads; Wanaka is so small compared to how it looks on the map.
We had lovely drive over in ‘The Bug’ with an un-expected stop over at ‘Puzzling world’ what a laugh getting lost in the maze, took over an 1 ¼ hr to get out, then we went into the ‘puzzle’ rooms; I’ve posted a couple of pic’s from the ‘metal’ section just in case any of my ‘Fabrication’ contacts are looking in (they would not give me the solulations, sorry but I need to know!) Em had great fun in ‘big, small’ room, a room which altered perspective of the eye where you look HUGE in one corner and TINY in the other corner (used in Lord of the Rings, by all accounts?) On into Wanaka, our hostel is lovely; I know we’ve only been to a few but not a bad one to date. On our first full day in Wanaka we thought a ‘walk’ was in order, a walk; sorry we meant a b****dy hike. The signs are deceiving, 10 min’s means at least 20 min’s; the 1 ½ hr’s sign meant ‘forever’ it went on & on & on. Not only on & on & on, BUT up & up & up; you get the picture. We then drove into Mt Aspring National Park, truly amazing! If ever there was a ‘picture postcard’ view this was it, the limited pictures do not do this area justice.
On the second day we hired some cycles, Oh my God our ‘chuff’ hurts; never have we felt the need for padded shorts so much. Oh yes, Andy was lucky that he fell off on the path; 10 meters earlier and he would’ve been in the river for sure. After a loud shout Em turned around to see Andy taking a roll down a bank after hitting a root and heading head over handle bars down the slope. The trail was so bumpy that our chuffs feel ‘bruised, battered and abused’ NEVER AGAIN. We had some fun on our last full day, we decided to have a go at some new pursuits. In door rock climbing and Archery. Our respect goes out to the rock climbers, we never thought that a sport could be so hard on the body. Saying that, the internal ‘dark’ climb was fun; all lite up with ultraviolet lighting. Em then spotted the ‘Have a shot’ centre, Archery was our choice (Em is dangerous) I thought I was bad but Em was just un-safe, hitting most areas; and some times the target it-self. Okay, she did get 2 bulls eyes and Andy got just the 1. We made it out alive and thought a ‘blow out’ at the bar was in order, so our first drinking night was to take place; a few beers and the night just followed it self.
We’ve changed our plan, and are now heading up to Franz Josef Glacier from here, so we’ll let you know what it’s like.
