A Wonderful Day in Wanaka

Saturday 7 June

Whiling away the day in Wānaka - the day started chilly & monochrome but warmed & brightened as the sun rose. Met the resident dogs (Magnolia and Booff) & ducks at AlbertTown before pottering into town for a coffee and some shopping.

It was a struggle but the Deborah 3 managed to resist the pastries at Pembroke Patisserie - not Louis though, he indulged in a flaky croissant with his Allpress coffee. I did half a row of knitting on the community scarf being crafted by random customers - surprised I could remember how to knit after several decades! Our trip to the Hospice op shop and Macpac in town resulted in one Christmas present for my sister Linus and no warm layers for Jez or Abby - and at Wanaka Wastebusters the highlight was this welded horseshoe and cutlery kea above! I accidentally over paid for an Icebreaker merino for Louis but I am sure he will get the statutory $1 per wear out of it over the coming months.

After lunch Louis & Jez hit the cycle trails around Mt Iron and along the Clutha river while Abby, Harley and I tackled Mt Iron and admired the panoramic views from the top.

The climb up the mountain was longer than expected - a bit like Mt Maunganui which always seems higher than I think it is! The route up was fairly civilised until near the top when there were some schisty rocky outcrops to negotiate, and the view back down over Wānaka was stunning but marred by far too many roofs and buildings.

From the top of Mt Iron you could see in all directions - towards Lake Hawea to the north, over AlbertTown and our campsite closer at hand, to Luggate in the east, towards Cardrona in the south and towards the Kawerau Gorge and Queenstown out west. Coming down was quite gnarly in places and I was glad of my poles - Harley had no such problems and ably led the way

Late afternoon I dropped the others off at Aitkens Folly winery and headed to Lake Wānaka to watch the sunset over the Wānaka tree. When we had visited back in February, the lake waters had been so low that the tree was totally onshore and looking rather sad. Now the waters surrounded it again and the evening light looked so beautiful and ethereal. There was a beautiful sculpture of a woman by the water's edge but I cannot find out any information about it... I'll just have to visit again!

Came back to collect the winos and caught up with Gordon and his elderly canine mate Freckles while Louis, Abby & Jez bought their wines for later. Ian, the winemaker had hosted another fabulous tasting and lured them into buying a few bottles - Abby & Jez chose the mystery box of three wines for $80 and the first one they unwrapped retailed at $60 so it was a pretty good bargain! Freckles let down the show however, by peeing on the floor by the door then taking a giant poo on the path outside!

Ordered blue cod and chips for dinner from Johnny’s van over at the retail estate and had a fun evening playing cards over in the moho.