Franz Josef to Wanaka

Another moving on day and another beautiful day it is too!! Boy are we lucky… Today we are moving on to Wanaka, just an overnight stop as it was too far to do all the way to Queenstown in one hop. We are booked in at Wanaka Bakpaka on the shores of the lake (see video below.)

The run down went well a very easy 200 mile drive and one of the most scenic we have done. We had a brief stop to look at Fox Glacier as it was so clear and then a second at Bruce Bay where there are hundreds of mini cairns along the beach (see video below.) Sadly our old friends the sand flies were waiting and all piled into the car when we opened the door…..super! We had a quick look on the beach, took a few pix and then spent the next ten miles taking out sandflies in the car one by one – the little tw**ts! We eventually came to the Haast (remember him from Franz Josef??) river crossing. He named the river and valley after himself before he found the glacier. It is a super wide river as it carries down all the snow and ice melt in spring and must be quite spectacular when this happens.

The drive over Haast Pass is superb and you end up along side Lake Wanaka then Lake Hawea for a while before hitting the town. The digs were splendid, in fact they were the best yet and we should be here for more then one night. Mrs D was very pleased. When we were with our Kiwi friend on Avalanche Peak he told us about a walk to Rob Roy Glacier on the Mount Aspiring road so we had time and thought we would give it a try. What he didn’t tell us was that the tarmac ran out at the entrance to the treble cone ski area and it was then another 23 kms on unsealed road to the start of the walk. We did about 5kms and then turned round in fear of shaking the car to bits and not being covered on our insurance. We found another walk to a lake and view over lake Wanaka which was very pleasant.

The one thing I have to say about NZ is that there are toilets everywhere and always clean with hot water and tissues…..how do they do it. Middle of no where – hot water, splendid. A regular topic of conversation with Mrs D – we know how to have a good time you know…. The evening was a couple of beers in a local bar, again the best brew to date made locally and then a kebab and a few chips (non cooking night.) The night in the super digs was splendid. We were spoiled all round at Wanaka, we will be sad to leave tomorrow. Pix are Fox Glacier & two shots over Lake Wanaka.