Our biggest drive yet was the 4 hour stint between Franz Josef and Wanaka. The town gives sleek, sophisticated, life-on-the-lake vibes. It’s clearly a pretty affluent area – there’s loads of independents and everyone’s head to toe in Patagonia clobber. It’s a really outdoorsy town – we didn’t realise but Wanaka is a stones throw away from Cardrona and Treble Cone so it becomes a hot spot for snowsports in the winter months too!
I had my first wilderness number 2, which after hours of rural driving, ended up being within 15 foot of a children’s den (I didn’t realise until afterwards and didn’t have the minerals to relocate the evidence). No photos sadly.
We parked up in the best spot on the lake next to Pembroke park and the show grounds. It was a good job we were leaving on Friday as over the weekend, Wanaka was hosting the agricultural, pastoral and community show (A&P show). This involved equestrian events, jack russell racing and more mullets than you’ve had cooked dinners.
Our time spent in Wanaka was pretty chilled. We spent the morning pottering around the shops and getting a coffee. In true A&P fashion, I got a mullet-esque trim and picked up some hiking poles.
The afternoon consisted of reading our kindles next to the lake which Az was the only person to be dipping in and out of. We also checked out the famous tree that everyone seems to love. Well not everyone, some scabby vandals decided to take a saw to one of the lower branches back in 2020. I hadn’t had high expectations for the tree (just a tree) which won the 2014 New Zealand Geographic photograph of the year and blew up on social media, but I ate my words. What’s the consensus, overrated or underrated?
We headed for a bev down a little alleyway that Grace stumbled upon earlier in the day (there was a bar there btw it wasn’t just an alleyway). We had toyed with the idea of doing Roy’s peak for sunrise the next morning which is one of the top hikes in NZ. The 1560m of elevation over 8km was daunting but nevertheless we set alarms to give it a go. We woke up to that piercing apple alarm at 04:30 (you know the sound), but the strong wind ripping past the tent made the tent box too cosy to leave. If they were strong by the Lake, they’d have been wild at the top of the mountain. This was enough (combined maybe with a groggy head and Az’s achilles) to deter us from the hike. Grace has tried to be nice here – my legs were actually really painful after the past few days of hiking so I was relieved when we gave it a miss! We’ve committed to coming back and climbing Roy’s peak before we leave so stay tuned.
We still had a fairly full-on day – Mt Iron trail followed by a windy 10km around the lake. We were determined to walk quite far after sacking off the Roy’s Peak plan. After a quick truck sarnie and some coffee we packed up and headed for Twizel (Lake Pukaki).
Welsh Rare-bits 
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