There isn't a lot of choice about which route to use in this part of the world and so for the first part of our journey, we were simple retracing our steps (or tyre tracks) to Queenstown, so no photos were taken on this stretch. We even stopped at the same cafe at Kingston for their tasty savory scones.
Te Anau is bottom left, Wanaka is top right
We decided to bypass Queenstown and head towards Arrowtown and the Crown Ranges, as recommended by Kevin at Keiko's. This is a steep winding road, currently under maintenance,
The road heads up into the ski area, so there are some steep climbs and wonderful views, but this was yet to come. Here we were looking down over Arrowtown.
The scenery changed as we climbed higher and we spotted an Air New Zealand plane on its way down to Queenston airport.
We walked up the hills checking our altitude which was 1100m.
We continued through the pass
Until we reached our first view of Lake Wanaka
We stayed at Edgewater, a large hotel/resort with all rooms overlooking the lake and a duck pond.
The following day, we walked into the town for a little shopping and to find somewhere to eat.
We found a trail of tiles recording events for each year of the Christian Era - Wanaka's millenium effort. There seems to be at least one tile per year from 1000 to 2000 (sometimes more in the recent past) and a smaller number of tiles for the first millenium.
We returned to the town in the evening to eat at our chosen restaurant, a popular bar which did limited but good food. When we returned to the hotel, a wedding was in full swing, but we were far enough away from the noise for it not to bother us.
Finally, views across the lake, our hotel was behind the trees.
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