Monday 8^th December

After having breakfast, hanging out the washing and managing to contact all three children on Skype, we drove a short way to park and then climb 240m up Mount Iron. It was hard work but worth the beautiful views at the top.

The whole circuit back to the car park took a couple of hours and although the weather was cloudy it was quite warm and humid and I didn’t need my fleece. Although yellow broom and multicoloured lupins seem to predominate almost everywhere here there were lots of wild rock roses in flower on the lower slopes of Mount Iron.

Having picked up a couple of pies for lunch we then drove around Lake Wanaka towards Mount Aspire and parked near the Diamond Lake. Although this also involved an uphill climb it wasn’t as far and we sat on a rock by the lake to eat our pies before returning to the car. We drove to the end of the surfaced road but decided it looked too stony to continue. We picked up a couple of hitch hikers (Latvian and French) and returned to Wanaka where Iain had a rather good ice cream before going back to the homestead where we are staying. I spent the rest of the afternoon sorting photos before we went out through the local park and around the lake to have a good Indian meal at the Spice Room.

Sunday 7^th December

Today was a lovely hot sunny day. We set off late (about 10.30am) from Te Anu to drive back up to Queenstown but then took the very scenic Crown Range road that winds up the mountain with stupendous views before going over a pass at 1076m and winding all the way down again into the valleys. 

We reached the waterfront at Wanaka about 2.15pm and found the place very busy as they had a (?summer ?Christmas) fair. But we found a table in a small café/bakery and had an excellent homemade pie each. We then found our way to our B&B (more like a small hotel) which is about a mile outside the centre.

Having settled in we drove back to town, had a wander around and a beer before returning and spending some time downloading photos and checking e-mails. About 7pm we went in again and had an excellent Thai meal – I had fresh spring rolls and a spicy seafood salad and Iain had curry puffs and a spicy chicken and vegetable dish with rice.