Whare Kea Lodge Wanaka

... a replica chinese village where migrant workers would have lived, panning for gold. We then had a choice of road - did we go the shorter, but very steep alpine pass road or the longer but flatter way? We went up the steeper road for 2km to a lookout and then decided to go the flatter way - our Jucy does not like hills!! We passed loads of vineyards along the way, it was a pretty drive. Wanaka is by Lake Wanaka and had lots of autumnal trees surrounding it, picturesque!

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After getting back from the Jetboat we decided to hop back into Face and make our way to Wanaka via Arrowtown.

About 10 Minutes out of Arrowtown something truly great started to happen, snow and lot's of it started to fall all around us! It had slowed down a little by the time we got to Arrowtown but there was still enough around to make a few snowballs and fill the esky up.

Once we started driving towards Wanaka again we decided to head up ...

... once at the top there is just trail after trail heading off in all directions and a large grin forms on my mush! After a mental day on the trails i head back to town just in time as it starts to rain. The next day i head up to mount Iron which is a local walk with wicked views of the mountains and wanaka and decide to go to the pictures that night for a change where I had the most bizarre night as i said i went to a local little cinema down the road to see ...

... He had been there 16 years and had many stories to share, his favorite involved a large women launching an opposum off her bunk bed. He also said the head of the DOC in New Zealand is obsessed with moose that were released into the park. None of the moose are thought to have survived, but the DOC head fanatically tracks them with motion-sensitive cameras in the trees and helicopter trips to the middle of the swamp.

... habit of wanting to bite the horse behind. As arule he had togo t the bck ut I managed to sort him out a bit and he was halfway up the back towards the end. We had a go at trotting and then cantering but i fell off my horse and landed on my back. Apparantly i would have stayed on if the saddle handn't slipped round. Anyway I climbed back on , a bit winded and back twisted and had another go. This was terrifying but seemecd to shake my back into place. S

... high point of the walk at 1255m some 12.5km away. We head up through the rainforest across rope bridges and creeks, to immaculate walking huts where people can pay to stay, much like a hostel. The upper part of the walk takes us round to view a second mountain range which are separated by huge U-shaped valleys carved by ancient glaciers. I probably won't describe much of today in any detail as we did the walk from the Routeburn Hut all the way ...

... couple of days using Glenorchy as a base from which to do some walking. However after calling at the information centre and being informed that severe weather was forecast for the next day we revised our plans and booked in to the only motel in the 'town' for just one night. If the weather was to break we thought we better get walking right now!!! Without more ado that afternoon we drove to the start of the Routeburn ...

... too sure what the impact of this will be on our body cells, it did keep the sandflies away (I subsequently learnt). Preparations for Funyak included supplies of warm fleece layers, a wetsuit, booties and another fleece layer if you wanted it. We were taken by bus to the harbour where we boarded our jetboat for the ride to the Dart's famous braided river system. The jetboat ride was enjoyable but not nearly as exciting as Shotover Jet ...

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Eventually we came to a sign which said something like "Warning: road conditions are variable and may be dangerous", next to a car park with about 10 cars in it.



Right behind this sign ...

... little dance to herself!

When I asked her why she was dancing, she said "Because I'm singing 'Donald, where's your troosers'".

Good, I'm glad we cleared that one up then?!?!

Helllllllllllllo....



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