Wanaka!

12th June

After arriving in New Zealand a month ago, we are now in Wanaka which is where we will call home for the next 4 months.

We took the scenic drive to Wanaka from Queenstown on a beautiful blue sky day via the the Crowne Range which is New Zealands highest tarmaced road.  Driving up to a 1000m, we had incredible views of the surrounding mountains, valleys and ski fields, all of which will be our playground over the next 4 months.

The scenic route may be blocked with snow over winter, and unpassable, so we thought we'd drive this way at least once. Tight twists and turns up the steep sided pass was about manageable for the van - on the final bend we passed a cyclist - quite mad - but gave him an encouraging toot of the horn as we blew exhaust in his face.

The road took a gradual descent, and meandered through the Cardrona valley road and before we knew it we passed a sign which said "Wanaka". We both just said "wow, we're in Wanaka!".


Since arriving, It's been quite hectic, starting new jobs and having to adopt a routine that sees us out of bed at 6am when we've had a month of relaxing is a bit of a shock.  However  we are still having a lot of fun, living with some great people and getting to know our new colleagues.  We spend our days laughing, surrounded by blue skies and snow packed peaks, going to the pub after work and enjoying the après atmosphere.  Needless to say, we are thoroughly enjoying our time so far in Wanaka.   

But, whilst everyone had told us how beautiful it was, it's only been this last week that i've really started to admire it's beauty.  

It feels like we're in the Alps, which i guess we are. So far we've enjoyed good climbing, nice walks, stunning views and apres ski.  As the temperatures drop and the snow begins to fall, we're looking forward to getting out skiing. 

Our new home - Wanaka! 

Our new neighbourhood 

the view from Rob's caff!