Wanaka

After 3 days of rain in Franz Josef, it was time to move on. So off we headed in the Hiace camper van of the nice chap that had given me a lift in Punakaiki. An hour south of FJ we descended from the Haast pass to find that the weather on the other side was glorious. Sunshine and blue skies. We drove down a long glacier valley with snow capped peaks glistening all around, even a rather large eagle decided to accompany us for a while.

We arrived in Wanaka late afternoon for a spectacular sunset and I instantly fell in love with the place. Surrounded by mountains on all sides with a beautiful turquoise lake to the south.

During the few days there I climbed Mt. Roy - a 1600m mountain which involves sweating, grunting and cursing uphill for 3 hours and careering downhill for an hour. Couldn't move the next day. I also played some golf, went to the world's coolest cinema - Cinema Paradiso, got my mind twisted at Puzzling World and got to know the local drinking institutions very quickly.