Archway Motels Wanaka

... me that the town of Makarora sold petrol and was only 18km away (when my gage was showing 34km left). Why is it that this always depletes faster than the project rate from the car's on board computer?! So, even though they charge a premium, I’m forever indebted to the southbound petrol station at the town of Makarora!!

I arrived at Wanaka about 14:00 and checked into my motel and then headed out to the Diamond Lake ...

... and so all the boarders transcended into wanaka! think we may have met 2 famous boaders one called travis from aspen,colorado and another called ryan. They were professionals and literally do nothing but board and party... crazy life!! they are in new zealand for the open which starts on august 9th... so we won't be here for it :( ah well! Went out after the cinema and that is the reason i am hanging ...

... of the pile, in an envelope with my name on. We went to get a haircut. The price was ridiculously expensive, even having the numpty hairdresser slot so I passed on the opportunity and Yvette went ahead with the numpty hairdresser, who did a pretty good job. More driving, up to Wanaka via Arrowtown, the sort of place that they put postcards of on the front of fudge boxes. However the fudge shop ...

... everybody was talking about. That morning we decided to go back to the view point at lake Matheson before we headed out of town. See the difference?             While I didn't like a do-over.  You can see the difference.  Doing a bit better now than we had in a few days, we set off down the coast. Most of the road was heavy jungle/forest.  There were a few coastal views. After stops for coffee/soda and ...

Yesterday we had another long drive day from Franz Josef to Makarora. We went to Lake Matheson, which is a mirror lake (I.e., when it's calm, you can see a reflection of the scenery in it). We also saw the Fox Glacier. Travelled through Haast Pass and saw another seal colony, photographed Thunder Creek Falls and walked to the Blue Pools, which entailed going over a rather rickety ...

... ve hit the 2,500 word mark so it's time to sign off. Michael has just indicated that his toes are coming even further out of the bottoms of his shoes and the light bulb has now gone on in my mind as to why he has so many holes in his socks. This may be the perfect time to visit the Warehouse (which is the New Zealand version of Walmart). Apparently walking barefoot in this store is one of the requirements of being a true Kiwi!... let the day's fun begin!

... a deep 'ford' (stream running across the road), and after our experience on Fraser Island we decided to err on the side of caution, so we parked up with the other cars in the car park, whose drivers obviously ...

... be as scenic as our drive yesterday.

It looked promising as we passed through some very nice valleys, and over some furious rivers, there were really powerful.





As we drove over the top of the pass and headed ...

... starting my job on Thursday cant wait too much fun. The feeling of my legs walking for miles on end appeared yesterday. We went on a long walk around Wanaka which was really nice however then i managed to get lost for an hour while walking back into town, not sure how though. But managed to make the cinema just in time and it is definitely the best cinema i have been to, it has old sofas in it as seats and an old ...

... Christmas Day - Andy climbed an adjacent mountain and I gave my knee ligaments the day off, joining the Kiwis on the lake beach, while powerboats whizzed back and forth and tough children splashed in the chilly waters. Christmas in midsummer produes such bizarre things as tinsel-draped trees surrounded by roses in full bloom, and dinner in the garden in daylight at 9pm, with a backdrop of sunlit mountains - very ...