Well, I'm back home in Wellington after six days at Lake Wanaka where I went directly after my week in Queenstown.
More little niggles ...
If I thought I'd had sandfly bites from the beach at Queenstown, that was nothing compared to the sandflies at Lake Wanaka. I was covered in itchy blotches. My bathing suit is mainly black and apparently sandflies lurve black!
My naughty rental car was in the act of backing and it hit a low concrete bollard. Oh dear. It was a good thing I'd taken out the highest rental car insurance on the market. I didn't have to pay a cent for the scratches.
Twice I flooded my Lake Wanaka Lodge bathroom. The seams in the shower wall were worn.
On my first day in Wanaka, I thought "My leg is better, I'll go on a hike." So I did. And I got a heel problem instead (plantar fasciitis, an old enemy). Am still hobbling today.
I'd booked for an afternoon boat trip on a glacier lake where there were icebergs. The tour was leaving from Mt Cook Village, a two and a half hour car ride from Wanaka (it was Chinese New Year and I couldnt get accommodation in Mt Cook Village). A long trip but I figured it would be totally worth it because while I was in the Village, I could go on a hike and, also, have a lovely buffet lunch at The Hermitage Hotel.
But two days before my scheduled boat trip a massive iceberg in the lake broke up and the boat trips were iffy as to whether they would be on. I took a chance and drove there. The trips for that day were called off! Stll, there is a ten minute bus ride (I could have taken my car) that does the round trip from The Hermitage to the glacier lake track every hour for $20, followed by a gentle-ish 40 minute (return) hike. The glacier lake looked great, with all the broken iceberg bits.
above: on my hike from Mt Cook Village (that's Aorakei Mt Cook on right). The Southern Alps are biggest mountain range and can even be seen from the North Island.
above: Lake Wanaka beach
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