We awoke this morning in the rainforest -- I got up early and had some nice quiet time on the patio outside, drinking tea and watching the hung-over American college students across the driveway trying to load their stuff onto their bus -- and headed out to our next stop, Lake Wanaka. Everybody in the know told us to stay there instead of Queenstown because it's "less touristy."On the way we get to experience every kind of landscape and weather: rain, a national park with awesome waterfalls, an arid-looking area that looked like the American West, and tons of cows and sheep. Then we came to this amazing-looking body of water, and it turned out to be the northern end of Lake Wanaka. So aqua and really cool-looking. My photos don't really capture the color as amazing as it was. then we encounter another lake, and the town. It seems really fun, and our hotel is super great. We have b
een reserving all our hotels using these two Web sites devoted to last-minute hotel rooms. The prices all end up being about the same but the rooms vary in quality and amenities (but all of them have a kettle for boiling tea water! I love this country.). This hotel is the best. It even has a spa and very cool pool area that we can go to.We head out and explore the town, spending happy hour sitting at a picnic table at a lakeside pub until supper time. We end up eating dinner at this Irish pub (and compare notes on our respective trips to Ireland) and getting more awesome fish and chips. I love these fried mussels.
We find a phone and call Jen to check in about her car. Sounds like she ended up spending the whole day up at the bach before it was ready and she could head home. Then we go back to the hotel and check out the spa to soak our old, tired bones. We're really feeling the glacier hike today. The outdoor pool and spa give us a chance to check out the Southern Hemisphere sky; not only are there way, way more stars than I've ever seen, but they definitely seem different from home. I should have prepared myself before we got here. I think I spot the Southern Cross but I am surprised to see the familiar constellation Orion. Note to self: look this stuff up online when I get home.
