Blogs from Wanaka, South Island, New Zealand, Oceania - page 6

Super bus journey passing all the mountain scenery in the early morning mist and by 10am I am in Wanaka. Ana is waiting for me at the bus stop with the 4x4 she has been leant, so we dump all my bags into it and then go for a coffee (hot chocolate for me) while we discuss plans. From here we head straight to the DOC office to check out which are the best walks around etc. At the office the advise us that the weather is going to turn, so we only have 48hours of good weather, which is essential if we are going to the mount aspiring region for walks. Luckily still being early, and the walk to mount aspiring hut from the start point only a few hours we had time to pack, ... read more

Yesterday spent the day walking in the morning along the edge of the lake where I found somewhere quiet to sit and finish my book it was one of those you can't put down. I really enjoyed it. After launch I went to Puzzleland, great fun, the reception area has loads of tables with puzzled on and you can sit and spend as much time as you like trying to solve them. There were at least six on each table some for children but mostly for adults, some very frustrating and some impossible or I was just rubbish at trying to solve them!!!! Good fun either way. The next section consisted of holograms and there was a room with about six famous faces which just followed you around the room. There were loads of optical illusions, ... read more

Am Morgen geht es wie gewohnt in den Bus und einmal durchgezählt, das Alle anwesend sind. Die erste Station heute führt nach Fox Glacier. Hier machen wir nur einen kurzen Zwischenstopp und dann geht es auch schon weiter. Unterwegs machen wir ein paar Fotostopps und ebenso einen Stopp an einem See, wo sich ein perfektes Spiegelbild der Umgebung ergibt, wenn der See ruhig ist. Ein weiterer Stopp führt uns zu ein paar Hängebrücken, bei welchen wie bei kleinen Kindern natürlich schön geschaukelt wird J Hier kommen wir zu einem flachen Flusslauf, an welchem bereits kleine Steinhaufen gestapelt sind. Ein sehr schöner Anblick. Dazu werden ein paar Steine übers Wasser geschnitten, mit dem Wettbewerb, welcher Stein am häufigsten auf die Wasseroberfläche springt. Man fühlt sich eben doch immer wieder gern wie ein Kind :D Noch ein kleiner ... read more

Leaving New Zealand and Wanaka It had to happen some time we had to leave our new home Wanaka made very special because people we love are there. After a very cold night with howling wind and rain this morning the sun shone and the mountains all had a dusting of snow, simply stunning! We said our farewells and left quickly stopping at the post office to send back a parcel and no they haven't done surface mail for twenty years I was told. We left taking the short route to Queenstown and again were stunned by the snow on the mountains, Christmas day the temperature was 30 and now just a week later we have snow in mid summer. We stopped halfway along and joined others as they took photos and had snowball fights. We ... read more

New Years Day and the day after We were greeted by sunshine but it became showery when we all met up for coffee. However a walk had been planned and we were going up Rob Roy come rain come shine. The journey there was about 1.5 hours but on unmetalled roads which meant a very bumpy ride. Steve and me, Rob and Amanda, Harry and Lea, Gerry and Sarah, took two 4 wheel drive cars and crossed raging flood water across fords travelling along one side of Lake Wanaka. The showers became heavier and waterfalls were cascading down the mountainsides. Eventually we got to the car park but some of us had not prepared for this amount of water. We walked to the swing bridge and it was evident that that was as far as we ... read more