Roam Relax Repeat

March 16, 2020

Friday March 13

Travel day to Wanaka

Next on our agenda was to head inland to the Wanaka / Queenstown areas, New Zealand’s extreme sports capital and home of bungy jumping. Today’s drive was about 4 hours and our route took us over the Haast Pass – whose elevation was not too high, quite manageable in our somewhat under powered van. There were a number of photo opportunities along the way, some nice waterfalls, overviews of the ocean before turning inland and then the Blue Pools just north of Lake Wanaka. They were all lovely, but I think the site of Lake Wanaka took the prize and almost took our breath away too – simple a stunning landscape with water an impossible shade of blue. We stopped a few times en route for photos before arriving in Wanaka and locating the campsite we had selected on our trusty Campermate app! The campsite was more than we expected and were assigned a lovely site overlooking the lake – couldn’t have been any nicer. We settled in and fell into our normal evening routine of happy hour, supper and figuring out what to do tomorrow!

Saturday March 14

Hiked Roy’s Peak overlooking Lake Wanaka.

There is a local track that has become very popular (as a result of social media) and it is Roy’s Peak just five kilometers north of town on the west side of lake Wanaka. We arrived at the parking lot / trail head around 10:45 am and readied ourselves for the 8 km, 1500 metre vertical climb to the summit. The track itself is well worn, but well maintained and makes its way up the mountain in a switch-back pattern. The hike is listed as hard in All Trails and although it’s not technical, it is a steep and sustained climb. It was a steady cardio grind for 8 km up a seemingly endless path. The hard work though was rewarded at every turn with stunning views and breathtaking scenery. We were not alone on our ascent, I would say there were a few hundred other trekkers on their way up with us, everyone had their own speed. We reached the 6.5 km mark, which was a popular view point and a sort of mini-summit for those that didn’t want to press on to the top. We however were not ready to quit and pushed on to the top…and we are glad we did as we were rewarded with a fabulous 360 degree view of the lakes and southern alps on a super sunny day. We lingered on the summit for half an hour or so, until our oxygen started to run low (ha, ha) then headed down a bit to a sheltered spot for a lunch break. The descent was a piece of cake and we chatted with some American guys visiting NZ on a “bro” trip. It was nice to talk with them, it made the descent go by more quickly.

After dusting ourselves off in the parking lot, hydrating a bit, we headed back to camp for a well-deserved shower and a change of clothes. Afterwards we headed into Wanaka for a look around and a grocery run before return to camp for a relaxing evening.