This morning started with a wonderful sunrise as it beamed over the mountains surrounding Lake Wanaka. As I walked over to the shower block a few deep breaths of mountain air cleared the lungs and set me up for the task ahead. By the time I had come out of the shower block I was greeted with pouring rain! However, the sun was still beaming over the tops of the mountains – most odd. We had a morning Skype call with Sarah, so we didn’t leave the camp site until around 10.45. Today was destined to be a scenery snapping day and generally take it easy. The morning sunshine was punctuated with short sharp showers, but the forecast was for the showers to disappear later in the day, so we were confident of a reasonable days scenic snapping. However, the wind was getting up chasing the clouds across the sky, so anything could happen and there were white horses appearing on the lake.
After a quick walk through town, (only took about ten minutes) we decided to go into a trendy coffee shop and indulge in a cappuccino and a sticky cake. Whist we were in there a gang of aging rockers tuned up on bikes that varied in age, but nothing more modern than about 1970. There were at least two models of bike that I had owned and if John H is reading this in Sydney, there were a number of C15 BSA’s. Apparently all the bikes originated from the UK and were bought over by people emigrating here.
My AJS was like this one.
After a quick top up at the local supermarket we headed out to drive round the east side of the lake. We were soon into a housing area that bordered on the lake and there were some magnificent properties that clearly had great views and were all individually designed. Without doubt, if we win the NZ lotto this week, this is the road we could easily live. Apparently, if you win the lottery, you cannot take the money out of the country, so it has to be spent here.
We pulled into a lakeside picnic area and enjoyed our lamb rolls and fruit, but not at the same time. From here we returned to Wanaka and drove round the other side of the lake taking in some super views, just like the Lake District but much higher mountains surrounding the lake. By now we were enjoying an afternoon of sunshine. Well, until we started to climb the mountain roads and we experienced the odd shower. We intended to head for the Treble Cone ski area and go up on the ski lift to enjoy panoramic views over Wanaka. As we turned off the road yet another sign informed us that the road was unsuitable for campervans, so we never got to see Wanaka from the top of the ski gondola! Some of the mountains in the distance from Wanaka still have snow on them, but for most of the day, they have been shrouded in cloud.
Stopping off for various Kodak moments, we returned to the lake at Wanaka and sat watching a couple of windsurfers and a kite surfer skimming over the white horses. From here we drove back to the campsite having made up for the small number of photographs we took yesterday. Wanaka is a truly beautiful place and the people here seem to be usual NZ friendly variety. The site is much emptier than last night for some reason, but there are significantly more Germans around here, whereas in the north, it was predominantly Brits. I’ll show no mercy if there are more towels reserving showers tomorrow.
Having just been across to the shower block for a pit stop, I noticed that it was a very clear evening and there are millions of bright stars in the sky. There seems to be more in the southern hemisphere and I didn’t recognise one of them!!
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