Wanaka Once More

It’s been good coming back to Wanaka, one of my favourite places here in NZ. Things have changed quite a bit in a short time, with spring the countryside’s much greener and there’s suddenly wildflowers everywhere, which is keeping me amused taking lots of photos of lupins. The town itself is much quieter now that the ski season’s finished too which was a bit strange at first. The last few days have felt just like winter again though with some very unseasonal snowfalls, yesterday making it just down to the level of town briefly. I was just remarking the other day that I miss the snow on the mountains around here so I’m thinking once I get back to Australia I’ll have to start dropping hints about rain and see if I can get this drought business sorted out. Probably easier than my previous iceberg plan too.



Haven’t done all that much here, mainly been spending time checking out all the familiar sights and walking tracks around town, revisiting Mt Iron, the Outlet and Millennium Tracks and also venturing out to Diamond Lake and Rocky Mountain again. Went on a daytrip down to Glenorchy and Queenstown with some German girls from the hostel the other day, we went up to Deer Park Heights where they keep deer (obviously) and all sorts of other hoofed ungulates and where they filmed lots of Lord of the Rings scenes because of the great view of the Remarkables you get there. Had some pretty ordinary weather lately so I’ve rented a whole heap of DVD’s, as it sometimes seems like the only movies people ever watch in hostels are The Fellowship of the Ring and The Shawshank Redemption and I was desperate to see something new. Just waiting for the lambing season to finish and the track to re-open so I can venture up to Roy’s Peak before I go and then it’s back down to Queenstown again for another week before I hit the Milford Track.