Hawea Happiness & the Crown Range

Tuesday 11 November

Such a perfect day! Sunshine from start to finish - making spring colours & glacier-fed lakes pop! This is so my happy place... if we could afford it, I'd be keen to buy land or a property here, but prices have rocketed over the last year or two as Wānaka fills up.

Louis decided to cycle into Wānaka, 20km to the pool, swim 2km then cycle back! That's a lot of exercise!

I took the easy option of meeting him there with his togs and stuff then collecting them off him afterwards. Meantime I visited the best Sallies down south and bought a linen shirt & a sequin blazer (oops), and went to visit That Wānaka Tree at the Lake. I was not the only one there... it was heaving! Took a few photos for couples and groups - sharing with them all the magic of the 16:9 aspect setting for such wide views as this. The lake and snowcapped mountains were looking their very best on this sunniest of days, absolutely picture perfect. It's all about getting the angle here to cut out all the people and get the stunning vista. I had a paddle - and can report it was not warm enough for a swim, but certainly toes-tolerable! Had to laugh a few times at the poses people were striking, at the lady in the yellow coat photographing the yellow lupins and at the long queue for the public toilets!

I bought a few more supplies, picked up Louis' swim gear and got back to The Camp in time to make lunch before he got back on his bike, which we ate by the lakeside. We tried the bench with the view, which was fine for Louis and his sandwich... but my salad was struggling to stay on the plate, random lettuce leaves flying off in the lakeside breeze! Moved across to the more sheltered picnic table - less view but more salad for me!

Louis has been keen to take me over the Crown Range Road (not a euphemism 😳) for ages so in the afternoonnwe set off for Cardrona and beyond to the Crown Range Summit with its awesome vistas. The road is pretty windy and hilly so I snoozed for a bit to allay any potential travel sickness, and woke to the most amazing views as we neared the summit.

We climbed to get higher and higher, and a better view, and found ourselves looking down on planes as they flew down the valley to land in Queenstown! The tussock grass and snow on the peaks made for a truly Alpine scene, versus the verdant valleys of Queenstown and the Kawerau gorge below.

Would have been rude to miss out on the famous Cardrona Hotel on the way home, and we are not rude so stopped in for a cheeky half and a fruit juice in the gorgeous gardens. I was so taken with the vases of flowers on the tables in the restaurant - each was like something my lovely grannie would have picked and displayed - aquilegias, pansies, lavender, bluebells - the English cottage garden pastel colours looking glorious against the wooden surroundings.

Lamb roast for dinner in Banjo then we had fun lighting a fire in the huge outdoor fireplace by the lake as the darkness fell. Nobody came over to join us this time, so we sat and poked the fire for an hour or so, chatting, reminiscing, planning... Making memories the best way 🥰