From West Coast to Wanaka

As the title suggests I’ve made it to Wanaka, where I’ll be based for the next week or two. It’s a nice place, not as flashy or busy as Queenstown. The lake is really pretty and is always changing with the weather and the light. Haast was a bit of a washout, the weather was pretty rainy and gloomy most of the time I was there. Still went on a jet boat trip up the river one relatively clear afternoon which was good – got to take things in a bit better than you can from the road and jet boats are always fun. Battled my way up the road through some insane winds on the morning I left to visit the information centre, just so I could say I went somewhere. Turns out I was lucky to have stopped there though as the bad weather was due to fresh snowfalls in the mountains, which cleared in time for a spectacular trip across the Haast Pass, which has got to be one of the best drives in NZ if you have the weather for it.



Will be doing lots of the walks around the area while I’m here, maybe head out to an island on the lake one day and might head out to some of the surrounding valleys for some serious tramping if the weather holds up. We had a really light snowfall down in town here this morning, which is awfully considerate given as I was just saying last night that I’d really like it to snow down here while I’m staying. So today I’m just casually dropping hints about how it would be lovely to have some showers of money tomorrow. That’d be nice. Yep. Showers of money. Any denomination, I’m not fussy. Or failing that, a bit more snow would also be good.

It’s cold here – I think it’s somehow involved with the snow – and I’ve been making a few discoveries about travelling in winter which I’m sure will serve me well in my future travels. For instance, you can’t operate an iPod scrollwheel with gloves on. Not enough friction. So if it’s too loud, deal with it or turn it off. I still keep trying though in the vain hope I'll discover some trick to it. also, if you’re outside and you want to clear dust off your glasses, do NOT blow on them, as you will have to wait several minutes or, in extreme cases, until spring, before the resulting fog evaporates.

I'll be sure to share any further pearls of wisdom with you as I discover them.