There are quite a few walks in the area but one in particular stands out as being good, the Rob Roy glacier walk, taking in mountains, glaciers and waterfalls. Sounds lovely, the only thing is it’s around an hours drive away which I hadn’t anticipated, so after some deliberation I decided to go for it anyway. I had been warned that the last 20 km of the drive is on unmade roads ( as a surprising distance of NZ roads seems to be!) and that at the end there is a river to cross (in the car!) and that if it’s been raining a lot the chances are you wont be able to cross it. At both the hostel and at the I-site they seemed pretty confident that it would be fine so off I headed. They had also advised me that as an alternative there was another walk visiting Diamond Lakes that was also nice. So as I drove out of town I was still in two minds as to which walk to do, I wanted to do the Rob Roy one I just didn’t fancy the hours drive each way, Wanaka looked so lovely I wanted to have time after the walk to explore the town before I headed off again.
On the way to Rob Roy I came across the signs to Diamond Lake, I pulled into the car park to find I was the only car there (was it the right place or was I too early or too late?) it wasn’t that early but it also wasn’
t that late, maybe I was the first there, that’s a nice feeling when you could be the first out on a walk. As I was still deciding about which walk to take two more cars drove up (it was the right place after all) and like them I opted for this walk in the end.The Diamond lake
There was a couple who headed off just before me, then I went, then another lady behind me. 500m up the track there was a toilet and my philosophy is never, never and I really do mean never ever, pass up the opportunity (!) so I didn’t! Waiting for me when I came out there was the other lady asking if she can join me on the walk which was really nice, so we chatted and chatted all the way until we came across the first view point and met with the couple who headed out just before us and then for the rest of the walk we all walked together which was great.
The walk then headed off up Rocky Mountain and at the top, now that is my ‘beautiful place’, yay I’ve found it! And if I never come home, you now know exactly where to find me, and of course where to send Milo! It was beautiful, really really beautiful. NZ so far has been lovely and so interesting and different in so many ways, but this is something else, this is where I could stay but only............ if I had a place right on the lake complete with mountain views! I can dream though right?!
Gorgeous huh?
Reluctantly, after a bit of lunch and absorption of the views we headed off back to the bottom of the mountain and back into Wanaka.
I then took myself off to Puzzleland which was great fun, they have the first double story maze which was trying but I did it eventually. Myself and a French guy (I think) were trying to find our way around it and I won! He was amusing though, chatting away to himself in French, I guess though, it was no different to me chatting away to myself in English!
My plan for the forthcoming days is to make my way down south a little further heading for the sounds. Ideally I would like to visit Doubtful sound which is more remote than the very busy Milford sound. Now this is a story and a half!
I, again, didn’t really realise quite how booked out these things get, it’s difficult when you’re travelling to keep up with where you are, so as not to miss anything, as well as plan ahead (never my speciality)! It was not until this evening that someone I was sharing with at the hostel said how she had wanted to do Doubtful but it was fully booked! Aaagh! So I straight away got on the internet and phone to try and sort something out (seeing as my plan was to be there in just one days time). When I called they had availability for 1 person on the overnight cruise, great. Thing is, you know how long it takes me to make decisions, so first I thought I would have dinner while trying to think about it, then I thought I would sleep on it, mmm BIG mistake!
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