Day 172

Madeleine Knight
Apr 18, 2016
3 min read

The last few days have been really quite relaxed, a little lazy and wonderfully full of good company. The weekend consisted of a small Gypsy Fair in town, a drive to some remote part of Lake Hawea, a night out in Wanaka and a day in Queenstown, all of which was taken at a super slow pace, just enjoying and being thankful for where I am and what I'm getting to do with good company all round.

Lake Hawea is Wanakas smaller cousin, right next door there's just a tiny bit of mountain between the two, Hawea is just as beautiful but a little less visitor friendly - although so far as I've seen, all of NZ is visitor friendly, with pit stops and toilets and well-kept walks all over the place. Let's say less accessible in places, instead of less visitor friendly? Hawae feeds into the Cluther River and is just as crystal clear with it's water coming from way up high in the mountains and glaciers. There were so many sandflies. So. Many. Sandflies. But it was a beautiful drive and lovely catch up time.

A night out in Wanaka is like many small-town nights out, early start, early finish, with 2-4-1 deals everywhere. We started at Kai Bar where we spent most of our evenings for the last week, taking advantage of there perfectly timed after-work drinks. After a couple of hours of braving the cold - right on the waterfront it's safe to say it gets a bit chilly down there, but the vibes awesome with internationals all round talking about there stories and enjoying theDJ who set up on the street just outside the bar itself, we then moved onto La La Land. This is probably one of the cosiest bars I've ever been in, with dim mood-lighting and sofas in abundance, there's some decent vibes here too.

Now Queenstown, what to say about Queenstown... All i've heard from every New Zealander and every person who's travelled this area is that I needed to make a trip to QT. Situated about an hour from Wanaka, QT is a much busier town than any other i've seen along the way, with hordes of travellers on their way to find some new adventure, from sky diving to off roading to bungee jumping and everything you could think of in-between. There is also the internationally acclaimed Furgeburger, which completely lives up to it's name, it is absolutely delicious and worth the crazy queue that winds down the road. Queenstown is too busy for me personally but it is somewhere you have to experience, or somewhere you go to start your experiences anyway. I was compelled to do all the adrenaline-related sports.

Today on the other hand we were up at 5am to walk up Mt Iron for sunrise, which was so beautiful and peaceful and it was something I am so glad I got to pop up there to see. The walk the first time round I remember thinking 'this has to be the top, it has to be'... and it just wasn't, it just kept going. But this time round it seemed a lot easier and quick, next thing we knew we were watching the panoramic view with low-laying cloud through the valley and along the Cluther. After a couple of hours of exploring we went for a drive to Blue Pools, an hours drive from Wanaka, which showcases the ice-blue crystal-clear water that makes the Cluther and the lakes around this area so breathtaking and awe-inspiring.

I also had a wonderful hour Skype session of discussing future plans for the next few months, which makes me truly excited and motivated to get out and photograph while I'm here and get a little fitter if I can, just to keep up the pace.

So much to see!