Weekend in Wanaka

I have just returned from my weekend in Wanaka, a great lakeside town in the Southern Alps near Mt. Aspiring National Park. The weather was beautiful! I was able to do everything that I had planned. Hooray! So without further ado, the illustrated version of my weekend:

Friday March 16: I woke up at my backpackers and was picked up by a shuttle to Mt. Aspiring National Park, about an hours drive north into a striking glacial river valley. We stopped at the Raspberry Creek car park at the entrance of the Matukituki Valley, and I was reminded of a certain crazy tramp I did the last time I was in NZ :) My hike that day lead me up through a stream valley beech forest for 2 hours to a striking lookout at the Rob Roy Glacier.The clouds stayed just behind the ridge so we got great views. The mountain the glacier is on is almost 8,000 feet high! The walk back afforded many sightings of native birds all eager to eat the insects I was stirring up. I was back in Wanaka by 4:30 and relaxed in town until meeting up with a girl Amy I had met here last time. Went to her apartment for the evening for a big BBQ and a soak in the hot tub. Nice!





<--Rob Roy Glacier





Saturday March 17: When I woke up I could tell in the distance that the park was completely clouded over, but the sun always shines in Wanaka! I decided to take advantage of the clear day and go horseback riding. At 1:00 I was picked up with two other people and we drove 30 mins south through the Cardrona Valley. The riding place had appaloosas that were very striking. While most of them had names like Dakota and Pocohontas... mine was named Prickles! Ten of us set out for a two hour ride up through the open fields of the valley, with beautiful views of the mountains back towards Wanaka. We got to trot and canter quite a bit, which was great, Prickles was very well behaved. If you're having a hard time imagining it, think of the second Lord of the Rings movie... it felt like that :) After the ride I could barely walk, but still met up with Amy and her friend for a Guinness at the local pub before going back to stay at the apartment that night (in the master bedroom that two friends had just moved out of!). Good times so far...

Sunday March 18: Amy had the day off from work, so we went downtown for a flat white (it's like a latte). It was only my 6th flat white of the weekend... Amy's boyfriend John was taking the car up to the national park, so we packed our bags and hitched a ride. We had him drop us off at the Diamond Lake Conservation Area on the way, and since it looked so ominous further up the valley, he stayed and hiked with us! The hike was nice, ambling up a small mountain named Rocky Mountain, and for the most part it was sunny and very windy. The views of the lake from the top were great and Amy and I got a triumphant summit photograph. I also saw a NZ pipit for the first time, so that made me very happy. The three of us spent the rest of the day eating ice cream, watching movies and going to a free barbeque down by the lakeside. And of course finished the day in the hot tub :)




<--Summit of Rocky Mountain







Ok, so that was my weekend! Not too bad I don't think. It's nice to be back in Dunedin for now, but I do miss the mountains already... ~Kate


P.S. Yes, I know the naked people on the cover of this tramping book... it's my friend's boyfriend Josh and his friend Paul! Silly Kiwis :)