New Zealand - Day 4

Travelled 314 kms

Our free camping target had been reached but at a price. Our limbs resembled someone with a terrible case of chicken pox. We itched constantly.

And we drove on manfully.

At this time of day NZ is still asleep, or up here in the mountains at any rate. We passed two cars in 20 kms and three in 65 kms. This was driving where the speed could easily go down to twenty-five kms an hour because of the twisting roads. We saw more dead possums than living people. Not many folk can say that! Because we’d such an early start we decided to go straight to Wanaka. Every town I mention will have a dedicated web site and if anything in particular grabs your attention and you’ve nothing to do. Google them.

We stopped at a very small village to try to find a bakery and some brekkies. We found a supermarket, but they only had pan bread that had clearly just come out of a fridge or freezer. We spotted a member of staff, standing looking out of the window. With the long mane of light brown hair, and a size twelve figure I said “Excuse me girl, is there a bakery”? This guy turned around and told me there was not. We left the shop hurriedly and went back to the van. As we were parked up near a public toilet I did the usual housekeeping tasks while M made coffee and cooked the last of the bacon and stuff in the adjoining car park. We’re nothing if not romantic.
On one of our stops we called in at Fantail falls. Not spectacular in any way, but there location tucked in off the road, made them a pleasant surprise. They carried a lot of water, and the river was running faster than most. We thought we might get to see the huge waterfall we saw from the helicopter, it was spectacular even from way up in the air. We never found it but there’s a picture of it on Flicker.

Time to head for Wanaka. Lake Wanaka is a place to take a deep breath and relax. Protected from the outside world by the grandeur of the mountains, you’re enclosed in a hidden paradise.
I stole that intro from their web site. These guys can put it so much better than me.
We were spellbound by the beauty of the countryside we were driving through. Lake Wanaka was our companion for many, many kilometers. We drove along side it for over an hour and the road then took us to the adjoining valley. I’m guessing this was to make travelling easier all those years ago. Mountains and lakes dominate the area, and this could have been an easier way to reach the settlement that was Wanaka.

We found Lake Wanaka Holiday Park. It was $16 each and very tired and in need of some TLC.. We parked up under a stand of pine trees in the shade. It was 32°. No matter what the blurb says, we found it dull and uninteresting. The town of Wanaka itself was a different story altogether. It is spotless with no litter and no graffiti. This part of the world has a very small crime rate. In all our travels in NZ we saw three cops, and two of them were at the airport!

Since this was the first large town we’d been in since I realized we needed a lead to charge the video camera, we set off to get one.
Before we got in to the town proper we past the top end of Lake Wanaka. We couldn't help ourselves from stopping and sitting under a tree to gaze down the valley with the lake at its feet and the mighty Southern Alps at it's head and shoulders. Snow capped mountains in the distance reflected off the azure water at our feet. The arid but also forested sides of the valley completed the picture on the surface of the water. One of those moments which just make you thank God to be alive.
As usual we found the local i site. The very nice lady in there told us where to look. We walked, and walked, and walked. The heat was fierce and the sun punished us for leaving the proper lead in Melbourne. Eventually we found the place we needed, and yes it was at the top of a very steep hill. The owner of the shop had none, but he rang round all of Wanaka searching for one for us to no avail.

We were starving, knackered and indeed thirsty. We saw a gourmet burger place and made for that. A couple of large delicious homemade burgers and beers later we were sorted. On the way back to the van, and we were less than two blocks away we found a Kodak shop and thought it was worth a try for a lead or battery. They didn’t stock what I needed but they did charge the battery overnight for $10. Worth every cent, now I could take more videos to bore you even more. Hallelujah baby.

We just ambled back to the site and had a two-hour siesta. It had been a very long day. We just lazed about for the rest of the evening. No Sand Flies here, so we’d have a lazy morning tomorrow. Eating in camps is always simple, nearly, so tonight we feasted on Hot Dogs and lovely NZ Brie. We stayed up really late, not going to bed until 11:30………