In the morning Gabe and I woke up and began to slowly gather together our things. Jordan had left early in the morning to skydive Fox Glacier, which is supposedly the number two skydive in the world. Around 11 he returned and we got underway, making the relatively short (but winding) trip to Wanaka.
We stopped here and there at different viewing shoulders along the road, but as we pulled over next to the glacier-fed Haast river I found myself staring at the river. "Anyone want to take a swim?" We all looked back and forth, trying to figure out who was up for it and who was kidding... Next thing the three of us are scrambling down a crude trail to the river. The current was strong, the water crystal blue and cold. Swimming in the Haast definitely has to be one of my top memories of New Zealand.
When we pulled in to Hanaka we were greeted by a charming little outdoors town straight from Colorado - a lakeside 'city' with soaring mountains around. We stayed just outside town in a campground with free unlimited wifi (a rarity in NZ), two kitchens, a hot tub and a sauna. Truly, the good life.
There were also, worryingly enough, a few wandering infants in the road. The first one I saw was stumbling through the campground crying for his mother - I started to try to take him to the office, but as his reaction was to cry louder and run from me I decided not to go to jail for trying to do a good deed. I found a camper van nearby with a group of three women who agreed to chase him down - which they actually had to do, as he ran screaming away from them up and down the roads leading through the campground until eventually running straight into his father.
We three soon made fast friends with the three ladies who hailed from Australia and New Zealand. Through conversation we found out that they had taken a trip similar to my own the year I was born and had become lifelong friends, getting together for small trips every few years since. There was melancholy note however, one had been diagnosed with terminal cancer; this was their last trip together. We drank and talked through half the night and hopefully some good memories and new bonds were made. Jordan shared a story with the group about meeting a German tourist on a ferry in Australia. As the old man stepped from the boat he turned back to Jordan: "Keep your eyes open - sometimes in life you meet twice."
The next day the three of us drove out to Rob Roy Glacier, which was an upstanding sober time for all.
