Day 34 Wanaka

Day 34 Wanaka

Whilst you were all sleeping off Christmas and planning what to but in the Boxing Day sales, we were up for breakfast by 8 (a lie-in for us…to give poor Nicole time to make us breakfast as the hotel doesn’t supply it…) and off for a fantastic jet boat ride up the braided channels of the Matukituki river into Mt Aspiring National Park.  We saw the hanging glaciers of Mount Avalanche, a white heron, a paradise duck (without her partner….Apparently they mate for life and if the female dies, the male stays alone…if the male dies, though, the female looks for a new mate…..Nicole says the one we saw is probably a ‘hussy’…) and we went beneath yet another lord of the rings set – this time we passed by Amon Sul – or the watchtower of weathertop – Rob loved it – he can be such a nerd!- anyway then we took a 50 minute walk through beautiful beech forest in the national park….but the highlight was the boat itself….amazingly smooth ride over rapids and in only 6 inches of water over a rocky bed at a very good speed. Of course, our ‘captain’ James spun it a few times and we got wet…..but nevertheless, it was great….Rob said that he wants one of those for next Christmas!

After the boat ride and forest walk, a couple of the group returned to town….not willing to tackle what is reputedly the second toughest trek on our tour.  Rob and I were each hoping the other would back out but we chickened out of chickening out so on we went.  It was a beautiful day – mid 20s and sunny – unlike when we tackled the Tongariro Alpine Crossing – so we actually enjoyed most of the walk…. We circled Diamond Lake and then climbed to a viewpoint over the lake….but that was just the start.  We zigzagged back and forth over rocky crags, trudged up grassy goat tracks and clambered around boulders until nearly two hours later, ‘glowing’ profusely and out of breath, we reached the summit of Rocky Mountain – for a spectacular  view over the Matukitiki river valley – where we had been boating in the morning – and Lake Wanaka with its islands and surrounding glacial peaks. One of the islands (sorry, I’ve forgotten its name) has a lake on it….so there is a lake on an island in a lake on an island…..Nicole spent many summers in this area as a child – she and her family would take their boat to that island and climb up to the lake.  We decided to pass on that experience as we still had about 5 kilometres to go just to get back to the bus….

We removed our boots with relief and had a much-needed shower. Rob collapsed on the bed while I went out to buy some food for dinner in.  We ate in front of Masterchef, packed up for tomorrow’s adventures and fell into bed exhausted at not long after 9:00……