Day 5

I (David) am exhausted as I write this.  Nick and I drove from Te Anau to Wanaka, arriving about 1pm, at which point we started the climb to “Roy’s Peak”.  The sign said the return walking time was six hours, and that was pretty close to being right for us.  It was a relentless upward climb, going up more than 1300 metres, covering about 8km.

It was tough.  Even Nick thought so, and we were really glad to get to the summit after over three hours serious effort, with a couple of rests en-route.  Once there, the views over central Otago were unbelievably impressive.  The only down side I would comment on about all the beautiful NZ scenery is that it is not enhanced by the constant drone of helicopters.  There are so many in use, and the atmosphere is rarely truly peaceful as a result.

This was probably the walk that has taken the most out of me since I walked to Macchu Pichu with Sue and developed mountain sickness.  I’m going to sleep now …..

Day 6

We have had a very good day, starting off at Lake Waneka and ending at Lake Tekapo. Both are lovely lakes, dammed at the outflow but look natural. This area is just like the Lake District in England, but larger, higher, and with many fewer people.

We walked up to a moraine lake at Mount Cook. This was a tame walk compared to yesterday: 80m rise over 5km instead of 1300m over 8km. However the total rise did not tell the story of all the ups and downs.

Note the icebergs!

Three suspension bridges (seriously wobbly) built just for tourists to walk up to the lake.

(as ever, click to enlarge)

Then on to Lake Tekapo where we had an excellent Japanese meal.

Now I am drinking a Mischievous Kea beer.

We’ve seen a Kea. They are Australian King Parrot sized birds and have “attitude”: taking a liking to all sorts of bright objects. They’ve been known to pull bits off cars. Tourists feed them but shouldn’t. “Don’t XXX, it only encourages them!