Day 27

We woke up quite late with a shining sun, clear mountains over the lake and some frost on the grass. First sunny day after a week almost! After a quick sandwich and body cleaning while jack was writing yesterday in the book. I picked an easy track for the morning, going around Lake Hauwea. The weather was perfect, sunny and chilly like snowy days. Jack and I tried again to knock over some piles of stones but no success! Heading back to Wanaka, we had a big lunch at Subway previously to our walk this afternoon. After some Pokestops, we went to ask about the walk and weather conditions at the DOC office . Gravel road, cold weather, rain forecast and fords to cross, that was the plan to reach Rob Roy Glacier. We made our way, around 1h drive with plenty of other tourists in cars, camper vans, minibuses… So many people everywhere! Especially for the walks we were planning to do the next days. The gravel road part wasn’t too bad except that we were producing huge clouds of dust. There were plenty of cattle grids that were freaking me out as I was focusing on the map.

Then came the main challenge, the fords! Lots of people had parked their car on the side of the road after 2 fords as the next one seemed deeper and longer. We started to doubt if sue could make it. I wasn’t re-assured for the car so we parked on the side like others and got ready to start walking. Although, there was nowhere to cross without getting our shoes all wet. I wasn’t kind on having wet feet again for hours after spending 5 to 6 days trying to dry my boots… Finally Jack decided to go with the car as we saw lots of other cars we took over earlier making their way through the ford. Turning on the radio to listen to our queen cassette, Jack tried to get motivation as much as possible. However as we approached the ford, queen sang “There’s no chance for us…” Thanks Queen. We changed the song and Sue got over the ford! After some last, equally challenging fords, we made it to the end and packed up food, warm clothes and water for the 3 to 4hr walk up there. The way started nicely between paddocks and river surrounded by snowy and spiky mountains. We met lots of people on the way before the swing bridge, many in shorts and T-shirts, runners and thin layers. I started to doubt about the cold weather warning… The river water was finally turquoise and fresh as we walked on the bridge. Then the hard bit started… a long and steep hill all the way to the first lookout. Nice landscape though. We ended up all sweaty and very thirsty. Lucky our bags had supplies for a quick snack.

We thought to turn around as a big sign was warning us avalanches risks after rain and the lady at the DOC site didn’t had said the track was closed. As some people came down, they encouraged us to go on, we wouldn’t regret it. We went up to the 2nd lookout and it was stunning. We could see all the mountains and glacier while sitting on rocks under the bright sun. The way back was much faster and easier. I drove back on the dirt road and the cattle grids after Jack who managed again to cross the fords. We stopped at New World again to buy some sweet treats and went to make dinner near the war memorial. Bad idea, it was incredibly windy since the end of the afternoon. We boiled eggs, rice and pasta sauce with capsicum while some teenagers next to us were noisy. It wasn’t too late to do another quick walk so we went to walk in the wind on the other side of the lake next to our usual picnic spot. Quite chilly and tired by the day, we went back to sleep at our quiet spot. The wind kept shaking Sue all night.

Entree Written By Marianne