Wanaka

IMG_0045

View more photos 

After such a great time in Franz Josef, it was a shame to be moving on to Wanaka. However, the drive down through the side of the Alps was amazing, so much nice scenery with snow-capped mountains on one side. The Danish girls (Signie and Heidi) were sky-diving on the morning we set off for Wanaka, we picked them up and they were buzzing about what a great experience it was.

On the way down, we stopped off at a place called the 'blue pools'. Some people were up for swimming in these pools, but I really didn't fancy it, and contented myself with skimming stones across the pools. To get there, you had to cross a really sketchy '5-person-at-a-time' bridge, whic Ritchie insisted on bouncing around violently. I don't normally have a problem with rope bridges, but this one was especially rickety !

IMG_0048

View more photos 

After stopping off at the blue pools, we headed off again, stopping briefly at a nice waterfall. The scenery on this leg of the journey was exceptional, which is saying something bearing in mind how beautiful it had been up until now. After we arrived at the hostel and dropped our bags off, we went for a really tough walk up to the top of a hill overlooking Lake Wanaka. It was a battle of time to get there before the sun was setting, but we managed to make it up there in time, and I took a load of photos once we were there.

After this, in traditional style, we headed out for a few drinks in a bar called Red Rocks, and then onto a place called Shooters. We were in there for a couple of hours, where a local band was playing. It was cool to see some live music over here, but the singer was a bit shabby to put it mildly. I headed back pretty early, as I knew there was a big night in store in Queenstown.

IMG_0090

View more photos 

The next morning we went to a place called 'Puzzle-World', which was really good. They had an Ames room (see pic), and loads of cool illusions, puzzles, and a maze with bridges.