Walking in a winter wonderland ❄️

From the 1st of June its officially winter here in New Zealand. The temperature has definitely dropped, it's been below minus most nights so the hot water bottle has been getting some good use. We even had ice inside the van when we woke up in Queenstown, I've yet to be cold at night though so the layers are working.

We arrived in Queenstown later than planned as we didn't set an alarm and ended up sleeping for 12 hours straight, the Stewart Island antics must have taken it out of us! When we did arrive we headed straight for a Fergburger. They're good burgers that have won plenty of awards, are they worth the hype? Probably not, but when you're hungry a decent burger is always going to hit the spot! We then mooched about the town which is basically full of very expensive shops and places you can book things like bungy jumps.

The next day we knew we wanted to head up into the snowy mountains so followed Tiki trail upwards, then Ben Lomond track after that. It wasn't long until we were crunching snow under our feet. We changed plans and followed a different track which gave us great views across the lake and town. We were staying at a campsite which had an oven so after we bought two huge jacket potatoes and absolutely covered them with cheese and beans. It felt like a proper treat. 

After Queenstown we drove along to Glenorchy where the Routeburn Track starts, a well-known multi-day hike, but we dont have the time or the gear for multiday hikes in winter so just did some then turned around headed back on ourselves. It follows the gloriously blue Routeburn river, across suspension bridges, and through lushious forests. We also found some impressive icicles. 

After another very chilly night at a DOC campsite we stopped in Glenorchy and as it was a beautifully clear day we gazed across the lake. It is also well known for being a filming location for some of Lord of the Rings so it's worth a stop, especially as we only really had a travel day planned. We did a big shop as we passed back through Queenstown, as there isn't a Pak'nSave for a while, and stopped briefly in Arrowtown aswell, a very pretty town. 

We got to a free camp just outside Wanaka and sat down for a cuppa and a very friendly cat appeared. It turned out it was super hungry which caused a problem when we were trying to cook tea as it just kept jumping up into the van. I think it was the first time I've ever been annoyed by the presence of a cat, it ripped open our oats and tried to run off with our bread! I was feeling sad for it, thinking as a feral cat it will be killed for the NZs Predator Free 2050 movement, but with a bit of research I found out that this only includes rats, stoats, and possums. I do know that cats and birdlife do not go well together but the sight of a cat will never not melt my heart. 

We stopped at a huge op shop on the way into to Wanaka called Wastebusters as Matt wanted to look for a coat, then carried on and got parked up by the lake. We walked along to get some photos of the famous Wanaka tree then mooched about the town. Matt had a cream doughnut so was super happy. We'd booked a campsite and went there quite early to get some washing done and make the most of the facilities. 

We were up early to do a long walk up Roy's Peak just out of Wanaka. Starting below the cloud, we ended up well above it in the snow and sunshine. 

By the time we reached the summit a lot of the cloud had cleared so we could see the lakes far below. It really was the perfect day for it, we worked out we'd climbed about 1200m, so we were pretty happy with ourselves. We'd planned to treat ourselves to a meal in Wanaka afterwards but nowhere was jumping out at us and there was a lot of places closed as its winter so we decided to wait until there's somewhere we really fancy.

We carried on out of Wanka, stopping for the night lakeside at Lake Hāwea which meant for great morning views. Next we'll carry on up the west coast and stop off at some glaciers. 

Lots of love, 

Lisa and Matt 💕