Wednesday, Mar. 8 (week 7 / day 45) Te Anau to Wanaka, NZ

Lake Wakatipu

On the way from Te Anau to Wanaka, we first stopped at Lake Wakatipu which runs along the highway to Queenstown. There's a point called the Devil's Staircase which has a lookout but no information sign. Paul thought it was the step-like profile of the mountains across the lake but we had to Google it: all we could find was mention of Devil's staircase referring to the highway being so windy, a motorcyclist's dream, not so much for kids in the back seat. We still have our Dramamine that we occasionally pass out on these types of drives.

We then stopped down closer to the lake & spent half an hour skipping the plethora of thin, round rocks into the crystal clear water, collecting some of the sparkly ones to keep & wading in the chilly mountain lake. The water was so clear & crisp looking that we felt we could drink it, but we didn't.

the mountains across from "The Devil's Staircase"

Carley at our 1st stop at Lake Wakatipu

Avery with an outcropping of cool swirly rocks

a reminder of the yard work Paul's NOT dealing with this spring

Sydney wading in Lake Wakatipu

Cannon & Kyra thinking about getting in

Stacia, Cannon & Kyra with Lake Wakatipu

Arrowtown

We continued our drive back through Frankton & on to Arrowtown with its quaint shopping stores on main street. We passed by a club of mostly old men playing what looks like lawn bowling. Paul just had to hold his phone up to get a pic over the hedges. We each got our lunch food at different stores & ate at the cute little park. Sydney & Carley: small pizzas from a bakery, Kyra: cheeseburger, Avery: hot chips (fries), Stacia: savory scone, Paul: Moroccan lamb pie & Cannon: chicken football (big hot pocket). For dessert: ice cream & candy spray from the Sweet Shop.  There was an old-fashioned telephone booth, something only seen in the movies!


a sneak peak at lawn bowling club

posing in the street of Arrowton

the "Bonjour" crepery was a tempting choice

Cannon about to hurl his "chicken football"

Cannon calling his friends back home

Avery, Cannon & Kyra with the Sweet Shop across the street

Kyra & Cannon with their candy spray, oh, & some pretty flowers

We then drove the 50 minutes up the mountain with hairpin turns to get to Wanaka. We have a whole week in Wanaka from which we hope to hike the beautiful mountains of Mt. Aspiring National Park.