Wanaka, Day 2.

Not sore from snowboarding for the first time EVER!! … Miracles do happen! Could be thanks to that (SO GOOD) soak in the spa yesterday. Those things should be compulsory in all holiday houses, like toilets.

Spent a lazy Sunday morning sitting on the balcony soaking up the spring sunshine with a cuppa tea and boysenberry jam toast. Didn’t even see the boys until after ten because they were downstairs glued to the foosball table battling all the cousins.

No snow fun today, though the boys kept asking. Plenty of other stuff to do!

Wanaka Skate Park

Walked to town so the caffeine junkies could get their coffee hit, stopping off at the skate park on the way so the boys could hoon around for a while.

I was surprised at how advanced it was; lots of rails and ramps, quarter pipes and two big, deep bowls. See the bowl behind them? Every time (nearly) 3 year old nephew went near it I shat myself. Unnecessarily, as it turned out, he has riding skillz. And when Finn jumped into the steepest-sided, swimming-pool sized one I had visions of having to call firefighters to get him out, but then he ran up the wall like Spider-Man.

After they burned off some energy, we had morning tea at –

A Lovely Cafe

…I can’t remember where we went. There’s plenty of great places in Wanaka. You’ll be right; just let your nose follow the aromas of coffee and freshly baked pastry.

After that we hit the famous…

Wanaka Dinosaur Park!

The younger kids were instantly doing laps on the brontosaurus slide…

… while the big kids took turns in the nice relaxing whirly barf chair. Had a flashback to the first time we came here, spinning four-year-old Macy. Now she’s practically driving!

The lake foreshore is also a favourite for running around, chasing seagulls, skipping stones, finding interesting pebbles and bits of flotsam and jetsam…

Also… ducklings!

Picked up lunch at our favourite bakery The Doughbin, then walked home. You can walk everywhere in Wanaka. I love it!

You can walk everywhere out of Wanaka too. This whole region is full of tramping tracks of all lengths and difficulties, from a quick, wheelchair-friendly stroll to multi-day trips into the Mt Aspiring National Park wilderness that are of the take-your- tent- and -snow- gear- and-survival- Mars- Bars variety. Wanaka’s just one of many regions in NZ with incredible walking that I look forward to enjoying more of with the boys when they’re a bit older, but in the meantime we’re sticking to walks under 5km.

So later that arvo we opted for a 40 minute walk to the lookout at Diamond Lake. The drive out took less than 10 minutes and it was an absolutely stunning day.

We parked at DOC’s typically well-signposted trailhead, climbed the fence stile and the boys promptly took off.

The walk starts off flat and easy but there’s climbing ahead. You need elevation to get the best views!

There’s a few steep switchbacks, and then once you round the lake you climb quite a lot of stairs up to the lookout. There’s some flat sections between the stepped parts though, so it’s not all nonstop climbing. Didn’t see the rest of the boys for dust so I took my time with my SIL and her youngest, who found all the steps a bit much and decided to add an extra 16kg challenge to Mummy’s workout.

About 15 minutes later we were at the lookout too, where the boys were busily throwing rocks at the lake.

We couldn’t see or hear anyone on the track below, and no little cartoon birdies, stars or curses of pain came floating up from the trees, so we figured our rock throwing wasn’t damaging anyone. I was most impressed when a couple of times Finny even made it to the lake! He’s got a bloody good arm.

Had a very nice dinner at the Speight’s Ale House when we got back. The evening’s entertainment was also included, as we sat outside watching the boys playing in the green reserve that adjoined the beer garden, racing laps on the footpath and playing with some other kids.

On the drive home I spotted some sunset colours starting so I bailed on the boys, jumping out of the car at the corner and sprinting for the lake. I ran across a football field (literally a football field, it had goals and everything), plus the equivalent of another football field, dodged traffic across the road and down to the waterfront.

I did get some shots in time but I wouldn’t recommend running that kind of distance after having just drunk a pint of beer and eaten half a bowl of seafood chowder and three pork sliders. Plus chips. I got the shot, and as a bonus didn’t puke. I really needed to pee though.

Next post: back to beautiful Arrowtown!

– Michelle