Day 53/72: Wanaka

The lady in reception was wrong. There wasn't as much rain today as yesterday. It drizzled on and off in the morning though, so we spent the most part of it in the campervan sorting out the last stages of our trip. We booked accommodation for the rest of our days in New Zealand, and sorted out dates for activities and what we wanted to do. After many phone calls and writing lists we were sorted, had some lunch and headed out to Wanaka town.

It was the second time we'd worn trousers in 2 months as we walked along the edge of Lake Wanaka. Wanaka is a rather sporty town on the end of a 45km lake, with lots of sports shops and activities going on. The surrounding hills and mountains are a brilliant backdrop and it's a very touristy place, but didn't have a bad vibe to it. It was fresh, pleasant and lively. We came to a tree on the edge of the lake. It's quite a famous tree called 'that wanaka tree' on social media/travel pages, as on clear still days, this tree that sits in the lake just off the shore, can be photographed to perfection. Today was not one of those days, and we carefully stepped amongst the few tourists with selfie sticks and cameras, took our own photo of it and then realised there was a much better shot in the other direction, so carried on with our walk. We wandered along the bank then felt hungry and thirsty so headed back towards the town. We had a look around the shops*, (they offer heli mountain biking here, how cool!) and then came to a cafe on the end of all the shops.

Our actions that followed were completely justified and we shall not regret the next hour for the rest of our lives.

We walked into the shop, thinking "I've heard they do good milkshakes, let's try one". However the smells and the menus and the cakes were just too much so we ordered a flat white, an Eton-mess-esque sundae, a cheesecake and a large milkshake. We sat down and the 4 journeys were made to bring all our things to the table ("anything else you've ordered?" "oh yes! Don't take the table number away yet!"). The coffee was fantastic, the cheesecake passion fruity, creamy and light, the sundae bursting with flavour and the milkshake made with fresh chocolate ice cream. After slowly savouring all of the above, we rolled out of the restaurant and down the path back to the van. We let our substantial coffee stop go down and then went for a run up and down the river bank. Feeling more proud than ever at our achievements of cafe and run, we headed back to warm showers and a night of Izzi teaching Tom how to play racing demons.

*Just a note for us to remember really, but we came to a small shop called Thieving Kia which when we walked in had, in Tom's mind, the best smell that he had ever smelled in a shop and proceeded to find the source of it to much amusement of Izzi and the 2 ladies who ran the shop who led us to the scented candle sectionRead more