Day 169

So I must say today I ache, but it's one of those good aches, one of those 'I feel rather accomplished' aches. I've done some wonderful adventuring the last couple of days and I'm falling more and more in love with Wanaka and the people who live here.

This town is your typical small town in many ways, one place to do grocery shopping, a couple of affordable bars, difficult to find work in the low season (i've heard it's different in summer and winter though?)... But in many ways it's very different to your average small town in the middle of the mountains, for one thing the people here - although everyone knows everyone - are so international with so many stories to tell, but one thing in common, Wanaka is the best place to live in their eyes. Another thing I've found here is no matter what kind of person you are, there's something for you to do. I wouldn't say I'm the most active or the fittest person, but there's walks/bike rides for people of any age and ability, there's adventure activities coming out your ears - from horse riding to paddle boarding to sky diving to trampolining.

The last couple of days have consisted of some serious R&R with the girls doing Yoga in the sunshine with the new app YBC (Yoga By Candace). If you're interested in Yoga but don't really know where to start, YBC has so many sessions ranging from 5 minutes upwards that you can do anywhere, any time and with any amount of ability. I've done Yoga a couple of times but always found some of the postures hard with bad knees, but I had a rather enjoyable time doing her 20 Minute Flow Yoga For Beginners. This followed by a small walk along part of the Upper Cluther River lead to a really beautiful day where we achieved little but felt super accomplished by the end of it.

After this however, I decided to walk Mount Iron. Mount Iron is the highest ride above Wanaka in the immediate vicinity of the town itself. It's around 250m high and takes a good 45 minutes to walk to the summit, or 1.5hours to walk the Mt Iron Loop Train. I walked to the summit in 30 minutes taking a few rest breaks as not only are the views stunning, the walk itself is actually pretty steep, the whole way, like really steep. Once at the top though the panoramic views are absolutely stunning, with Lake Wanaka, The Pisa range, the Upper Cluther Basin and the Southern Alps in sight as you sit and enjoy a little water and trail mix you handily packed in your bag. The walk back down is a little hard on the knees if you take the same trail, but I got talking to an English lady who's lived in NZ for the last 15 years and she gave me some advice that if you do the loop track on the way down you'll have a much easier time of it. Safe to say I was a little tired by the time I got in!

Finally on my super active, busy day of adventuring, I had a Paddleboarding lesson. Something I've been meaning to do since Rio last year, Paddleboarding has always looked so peaceful and relaxing and a great way to get out on the water. Definitely worth it! Thanks to Wanaka Kayaks and my instructor Chris I had a lovely 1 hour lesson in how to move around with easy, gain little speed and generally enjoy the water. Having never been on a board on water in any way, I was sure I would have some balancing problems, but generally I was absolutely fine! Seeing the lake from the water itself is also an awesome way to explore it, the water is crystal clear and the sun was shining so we could see down into the depths and take in the valley's beauty from a different perspective... Whether I'll be brave enough to take my Canon is a different matter all together though?!

This morning, on the other hand, I plan to explore the Gypsy Fair that's in town for the weekend, and generally stretch out my poor aching muscles in the sunshine before next weeks walking fun begins.