Wanaka

As we left Fox the heavens opened and it poured and poured all the way to Wanaka, a holiday town in the middle of the south of the island. As we pulled into our motel, the rain stopped and we had a lovely afternoon in and around the town.

As well as the shops we visited a local microbrewery, the Wanaka Brewerworks run by a Californian, with the inevitable tasting at the end of the visit. Our evening was spent very pleasantly in one of the many town restaurants.

The next morning, the sun was out again and we set out to conquer Mount Iron, a fairly gentle climb according to the Lonely Planet guidebook! After a long steep climb we finally reached the summit and were very grateful to see the picnic table vacant so we could take the weight off our feet. The views of the Lakes Waneka

and Hawea,
the towns Waneka and Albert and of course the surrounding mountains made the climb well worth while. We now understand why the Maori call New Zealand the land of the Long White Cloud.
In the afternoon we took a stroll around a small part of the lake and enjoyed another set of spectacular views of the surrounding snow capped mountains.