Well I popped out to the toilet around 10.30 pm last night and wow, the sky was amazing, I have never seen so many stars in my life so I had to get Dave out of the motorhome to have a look. Also couldn’t believe how many people had now arrived, it was packed.

Alarm set for 8 and we were off at 9 but most people had already left. Beautiful blue skies but oh so chilly it was about 3 degress.

Thunder Creek falls – tick

Gates of Haast – tick

Diana Falls – tick

Trickle 1 and 2 – tick

Fantail Falls – tick

Then the Blue Pools but a slight hiccup as the swing bridge to them is now sealed off so you can only walk so far and you can’t even see them from that point…. So we put our rock shoes and swimwear on, packed a rucksack and set off. We got to the end of the official walk, made our way down to the riverbed and attempted to wade across it. Boy was it freezing and in my rush to get across I took a different route to Dave and ended up neck deep and swimming!   Anyway out the other side and dried off a bit, we clambered up the rocks and had a little walk along the now closed off track through the forest and then back for a very quick dip in the Blue Pool. It was stunning and so worth it. Then it was a bit of a chilly walk back to the Mabel to dry and change, temperature now around 12 degrees.

We made our way to Wanaka, driving through more spectacular scenery especially alongside the edge of Lake Wanaka and then Lake Hawea where we parked up and had scrambled eggs and smoked salmon for lunch with the most beautiful view over the lake.

Once in Wanaka we parked up fairly close to ‘The Wanaka Tree’ to take that shot. It was made famous by winning a photography competition in 2014!

We couldn’t take the road we wanted to Arrowtown as Mabel wasn’t allowed down it so we had to take a longer route. We passed through what looked like vineyard country, so many wineries, we also took  advantage of stocking up on some fruit at the most amazing farm shop as well as more refuelling for Mabel.

We were then travelling through the Kawarau Gorge and had some photos stops at Roaring Meg and the Kawarau Suspension Bridge where they do bungy jumps (I believe this is the original site set up in 1980)

Next onto Arrowtown, what a beautiful little town, unfortunately most places were shut by then, so we had a walk around the high street and continued on for our campsite. If we come back I would definitely spend more time here, so quaint.

Finally arrived at our campsite in Arthur’s Pass just outside Queenstown at 6.30, the last free shuttle bus left at 7.00, so with a very quick shower and change we were off to explore Queenstown.

Finding a bar for a quick pint we bumped into some people who were here for the International Hashers Convention (people who run and have a drink when they finish). Then a walk around the quayside and dinner in Pub on Wharf. We tried our luck unsuccessfully in the casino and then went onto The Ballarat where they had some live music.

Hopefully we’ll be able to get an Uber back! 

Total distance 217 km (135 miles)