Wanaka and West Coast

We had 3 fantastic days in Wanaka. The sky was clear blue every day and with all the autumnal colours of the trees the views were spectacular.

Lake Wanaka

We climbed trad and sports routes in the valley of Mount Aspiring National Park on pretty good Schiste rock. Jo strangely developed a head for leading and lead her hardest route 17 on bolts and 15 on trad. Maybe there are some side effects to bungy jumping.

We also decided to go tramping in true NZ style. Only a day's walk but published to take up to 11 hours. It started up hill to the 1500m peak of Mount Roy then across the Summit track and down through a creek. It took us only 6 hours but this was long enough when we only had 1.5 litres of water between us. We hitched a lift with another traveller to get back to the car then started the drive across to the west coast.

View from the summit

After a full days driving up the west coast past the Fox and Frans Josef Glaciers and following coastal roads that could rival the Great Ocean Road in Aus we parked up for the night in a lay by and watched the sunset.

A perfect evening with a cold beer watching the sunset

and the sand flies biting your ankles.