Epic Sunrise and a spot of Cycling

Saturday 11 April

With Cyclone Vaianu threatening much of the North Island and down the East coast of the South Island, we remained sheltered here at Lake Hāwea - but the atmospheric pressures of the storm definitely affected the skies all over the country.

We were fortunate to be woken by a glorious fiery sunrise which lit Lake Hāwea in an incredible array of vibrant pinks, oranges, golds & yellows - wow! Louis popped his head out first at 7am and caught the sky aglow like it was on fire. By the time I had dragged some warm clothes on and struggled into my Uggs, the reddy orange glow had become a little more muted, more gold against a purple blue sky, but out to the south and over to the west the whole sky was tinged with deep peachy, pinky, golden hues. Spectacular!

The incessant mooing stopped early morning as the cows were moved through the camp to new pastures and then mid morning a vast herd of merino sheep were corralled through the camp and out to a paddock along the lake. I went for a wander to check them out - but they are nervy creatures and scarpered at my approach. I had better luck tracking down the cicada serenading me from a fence post - it is always unbelievable that just one solo cicada can make so much noise.

At the end of the pathway a beautiful wild rose was laden with ruby red rosehips - glowing in the sunshine they looked almost unreal. Walking out and back you had to be careful as the pathway was being eroded from below - I guess the wind whips up the waves in winter to create this collapse. In the final shot above, looking up to The Neck between Lakes Hāwea & Wānaka, you can see Tititea, Mt Aspiring, poking her snow covered peak over the top.

Meanwhile, Louis had got the bikes down & set them up so after lunch we hopped on them and cycled further into the Hunter Valley (through the cows’ new paddock) but only made it about 4-5km before reaching the locked gate of the Hunter Valley Station so we turned back. Good news that we got that far… the sign below was only about 500m from Kidds Bush so it could have been a very short cycle ride!

Up at the farm where we had to turn around, we watched the welcome swallows having a good preen on the power wires before setting off to fly north for the winter… then we had to brave the bolshie coos paddock again on the way back - they were still very curious and not keen to let us through in either direction.

My bike brake was playing up so Louis did a number 8 wire fix back at Banjo so that it worked about 90% and then we set off along Meads Road, over Neck Creek Bridge and back to SH6 where we climbed to The Neck and then down to the Lake Wānaka lookout for a view of the top stretch of the lake.

Where we were here near the top end of Lake Wānaka was probably about 30-40km north of the main town and THAT Wānaka Tree. Had a lovely chat with two young travellers and took their photos for them, then spent an age perusing the vast selection of stickers people had left along the crash barriers… what a random item for people to travel with!

Stickers along the crash barrier - #1 - people & faces, #2 - travel & NZ, #3 random weirdness and below, #4 - European, and mostly Germanic.

We cycled back over The Neck to a fabulous view of Lake Hāwea then on to Kidds Bush - following the curve of grey road, heading out across Hunter Valley Station to our campsite.

Random dinner in Banjo as the lamb mince had gone stinky… dumplings from the freezer for Louis and leftovers stirfry for me. A spot of blogging and other admin before bed - under a starry but damp sky.