At 5.30 it was dry but that didn't last long before the forecast rain started to fall and continued as such until about 1230.
No morning walk so I went to the gym before breakfast, we had a mid morning coffee at the excellent olde worlde cafe, Florence's, opposite the resort and late morning we made a family decision to go and do our big shop for the week at New World......braving the weather and the Xmas shoppers.....that said although there were lots of shoppers there were no great queues at the checkout making it a relative breeze. John said ' I wouldn't have paid that at home' -and although everything was good quality our £100 trolley would have been nearer £50-60 in Cambridge - we were no doubt paying the price of food miles albeit all the local produce is top notch and the cherries are the best I have ever eaten.
Importantly when we emerged it had stopped raining.
Shopping unpacked, lunch eaten, postcards written ( actually written by John & dictated by me as I would need a whole postcard just to sign my name!) and the sun now shining we decided to walk to Mount Iron which was formed by a retreating glacier to do the circular walk around it. The first part was to the summit for amazing views of Wanaka, the lake, the mountains and the Cardona valley. (Today's picture shows the lake and Black peak). The climb up definitely got the heart rate up while the downward section allowed us to relax and take in more of the views....some people were actually running up the path as part of their daily jog - real iron men.
When we returned to the bottom we walked back into Wanaka, posted the cards and went to Patagonia for a much needed iced coffee before heading back up the hill to Oakridge - getting back at 1830 - a 3 hour round trip!