Mount Iron

After a quick breakfast, we made our way to the base of Rocky Mountain for our morning hike. The trail definitely lived up to its name with several rocky sections. The view from the top was absolutely stunning. We were so glad we started early because as we descended, the parking lot was packed and we saw so many people heading up!

Next, we drove along the road to see if we could make it to the top of Treble cone, but the mountain was closed off. Still, we got to enjoy watching paragliders coming in—it was the perfect day for it.

We then decided to head toward a spot we’d seen from the top of Rocky Mountain. After a few kilometers of rocky, unsealed road, we reached a fork where the road turned towards where we wanted to head but it was private—dang! We didn’t let that stop us, so instead we continued straight on through the ruts (poor little Suzuki!) until we reached the river. Bart was quite convinced the Suzuki could handle the sand, but thankfully he didn’t risk it. Even though he thought I was being the fun police, though!

Since we finished our walk faster than expected, we had more time, so decided to head to Arrowtown. When Bart visited last week, they made it there in just over half an hour. But, of course, we ended up stuck behind slow drivers and for roadworks, so it took us a full hour! By the time we got there, it was so packed it just wasn't worth stopping! We drove around, and Bart pointed out where they had been the week before, then headed back up the winding road toward Wanaka and the Real Guns rifle range.

Real Guns was a blast! Bart had only two others in his group, both police officers. As usual, he was a natural. When they got to shotguns, he hit every clay target except the second last one, so 9 from 10 was pretty impressive. He made it look easy, so when the others had their turn, I think they expected it to be just as effortless. The lady only hit 2 out of 10, and her partner got 4, so I was pretty impressed by Bart. After the 22 and shotgun, we had the option to pay extra to try other guns, including up to a 50-caliber.

Bart chose to shoot a Remington 700 in .308 caliber, and nailed it! They start relatively close at 200m then got further out! Out of six shots, he hit his first five managing a 335m hit — I think he surprised himself! He had an absolute blast.

Overall, it turned out to be a fantastic day, even though we didn’t get to do the glacier walk.Read more