Clan Haley

Wanaka

Yesterday we had a pretty short travel day. We headed north a little to the quaint vilalge of Arrowtown. It was a pretty big change from the hustle and bustle of Queenstown. Arrowtown rose to fame during the 1860s gold rush that swept this part of New Zealand. It still maintains quite a lot of that small town charm that it was built with. Lots of local shops selling all sorts of lovely hand made items and possibly the best coffee I've had of the trip so far (Wolf Coffee for those that care!). After exploring the old buildings and finding a few goecaches we continued on our way to Wanaka.

Wanaka is situated on the edge of Lake Wanaka and had a breath taking view of some of the amazing peaks. On arrival we grabbed ourselves a pie from an award winning bakery before wandering around a little. At this point the rain started. We've been very lucky with the weather so couldn't complain too much. One of the indoor activites in Wanaka is Puzzling World, an optical illusion exhibit. This kept us occupied for most of the afternoon as we questioned most of what we saw and got lots in the maze. After that we picked up some food and went to our campsite. At this point the rain was still going so we opted to move indoors for a few nights. After James was in bed I headed for a little wander to see the famous "That Wanaka tree" along with most of the town!

The next morning we set off up the Matukituki River Valley. Just as we arrived for a walk around Diamond Lake conservation area it started raining again. Being Scottish this didn't put us off and we set off anyway. We had a fantastic walk and were treated to some lovely views (even if the tops of the mountains we hidden in clouds). After a spot of lunch we drove further up the track and experienced some "backcountry" roads. When we got to the first ford about half way up the valley we decided that was enough and turned around. I managed to capture some fantistic pictures on the drive back though.

After a quick drink at Velo cafe situated at the Bike Glendhu bike park we headed to the playpark in Wanaka for James to have a run around. The best bit was an enrmous dinosaur slide that James did quite a few times. Laura snuck off for another geocache and informed me of some nesting Crested Grebe a few minutes away. Naturally I had to grab a few photos. On the way back I was also lucky enough to spot a silvereye and a redpoll.