Thursday, Mar. 9 (week 7 / day 46) Wanaka, NZ

Mount Iron Hike

We started the day off with a short hike up the nearby Mount Iron which gives you a 360 degree view of the area. Sydney stayed home to do homework while the rest of us made it up for the spectacular & peaceful vistas. Part of the mountain is on private land so there were short step ladders over the animal fences across the trail.

Kyra & Cannon with Lake Wanaka behind

steps on the path to get over the animal fence

Cannon near the top of Mount Iron

a rocky part of the hike

Wanaka and its lake from Mount Iron

finally at the top!

across the lake is Mount Aspiring National Park

on the way down the other side of Mount Iron

Kayaking The Clutha River

In the afternoon, Stacia, Sydney & Carley went on a kayaking tour down Clutha River & had a great time as Sydney explains:

The scenery looked very similar to the Payette river: dry brown banks with scattered trees, but a striking difference was the water, bright turquoise & perfectly clear! It was bonkers how crystal blue it was. Our guide, Reanna, said she's worked as a guide for 2 years & it never gets old. Tack that onto the list of my goals/dreams/ambitions: hardcore kayaker. Anyway, the river is pure glacier melt, so you can drink it!! Car & I were often dipping cupped hands in for a sip. The "rapids" were class I & II. Nothing scary but still good fun. I liked when, a few times, we would pull into an eddy by paddling & leaning into it because the river tugged you in but you still felt as if you were doing a cool maneuver. It's a gorgeous thing to paddle down the river, not to mention a hardy workout. My arms & back were fairly tired afterwards, but imagine how cut I would be if I did that daily! Really though, I think I could do that everyday of my life. //Syd

Carley, Stacia & Sydney off to kayak!

all geared up & ready to go!