Wanaka

Wanaka. Oh Wanaka. How you captured my heart with your gorgeous mountains and lake.
I stayed 5 nights at a hostel called Wanaka Bakpaka, and honestly, so far it's been the best hostel I stayed at.

Lake Hawea

  Absolutely recommended.

 Everything was perfection - from the wonderful kitchen to the warm lounge/dinning room with a dramatic mountain & lake view to really kind staff (both the owners and the woofers). I wish I lived in that hostel - that's how much I liked it.

I arrived on a sunny afternoon, and after a walk through town and getting the groceries done, I wasn`t in the mood to do anything (long bus drives can do that). So I went through the book exchange and picked up something by Clive Barker (yeah, the same guy who did Hellraiser). I could never get into this adult oriented books - one part the writing style and the other part is that like a lot of fantasy directed at adults (which disappoints me greatly) it was dark, depressive and dwelling too much on sex. The book I picked up though was called Abarat, and while the main heroine is a teenager (but of course she is, adults don`t really get to do a lot of colourful adventures), I actually ended up enjoying it so much, I stayed till 1 am reading that. Imagine the chances, running into the one book which re-introduces me to a man whose work I liked (movies, paintings), but never could do his books!

Following that, I spent my days hiking and my evenings reading and I was reaching a level of quiet contention and satisfaction. In fact! I was itching to do something useful with myself  other than hike and read. Which is definitely a nice change from wanting to lie on the couch face down and not do anything. But eh, I am not skilled in any arts to really take advantage of the feeling.

My first hike took me to the Iron mountain which is the highest peak in the immediate vicinity of Wanaka. The trail entrance is about 2km from town, and It takes about an hour and a half to hike the entire loop track at low speed (and frequent stops for photos), but it gives you a real nice view of the entire town and the lake.

Yikes! How did I get into a RE4 game?

The next morning I picked up a map, a water bottle and a sandwich and left for Roy`s Peak.
On the way there, I passed what appears to be the rich neighborhood of really posh houses and a vineyard. The vineyard belonged to Rippon, which apparently produces the best Pinot Noir in the country. I climbed all the way up to the "Cellar Door" where I was given a free wine tasting of their wines! (I didn't realize I have to spit the wine into a bucket, heh, so I was slightly happier leaving again towards Roy Peak).

Rippon vineyard

I decided to just walk to the trail, which supposedly only 6k from the town. Took me the better part of the morning and early afternoon, heh. The track itself took me 5 hours.  There were sheep... lots and lots of sheep. The entire mountain side is baaaing.

I made it back in darkness, at about 9 pm (Thanks again to my father for giving me the flashlight). Well worth the return time, as the night sky is gorgeous here. It must be that there is less light pollution - you can see the milky way, and so many stars it`s unreal in its beauty.

Tracks around the lake, which is what I did for the rest of my time there, are much easier as the ground is flat and they are very tranquil. Just mountains and waters and the Autumn yellow trees.

It must be rabbit season because not only the mountain tracks, but everywhere else had tons of rabbits.

Rabbit season?

On the day before my departure, I gave Puzzling World a visit. I loved all the visual illusions. The room of following faces was especially impressive (as well as the tilted house). I didn`t care much for the maze, I admit. Maybe I just don`t like mazes or wasn't in the mood for one. I completed the first challenge (by accident, heh, as I was just looking for the exit) and didn`t bother with the second one at all. Overall just good clean fun.