Back in November when we were in Hoi An in Vietnam we sent a parcel of clothes home by sea mail. We were a bit sceptical as to whether it would arrive, especially Diane, so delighted to find out from Jean, that it has. We planned to head to Wanaka today stopping in Arrowtown on route. Arrowtown sprang up in the 1860's following the discovery of gold. It's now a tourist attraction retaining many of it's gold rush buildings. The Motatapu mountain bike and running race is on today, New Zealand's iconic off road event from Wanaka to Arrowtown, and even by the time we arrived just after 10am it was extremely busy and we decided to carry on to Wanaka. We drove over the Crown Range Road, claimed to be one of the South Island's most scenic drives. The road climbs to over 1000m and is the highest sealed road in New Zealand, before descending to Cardrona and on to Wanaka. We passed a steady stream of traffic going the opposite direction, assuming it was people heading to Arrowtown and the end of the race to see the competitors over the finish line. We'd booked to stay at the Top 10 campsite on the Wanaka/Mount Aspiring road, about 30 minutes walk around the lake from the town centre. After checking in, we walked into town, stopping for lunch at a lovely little bistro opposite the lake shore. The town is much smaller than Queenstown and has a more laid back feel to it although it certainly doesn't lack in outdoor pursuits albeit maybe not to the same extent as Queenstown. We had a wandered around the town, booked to go to the local quirky cinema called Paridiso, to watch The Hobbit on Moneday evening, before walking back along the lake shore. The weather had cleared up and we sat outside enjoying the afternoon sunshine, even having dinner alfresco before the evening chill drove us inside.
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| Looking across Lake Wanaka from the town |
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| The view from the campsite |
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