As with most roads in New Zealand our journey to Wanaka was winding up down and round hills and mountains, giving some pretty good views which as you would expect we got a few snaps of. Arriving in Wanaka we nearly drove out the other side of it before we realised we were there, which by the way was nothing to do with the speed we were going before you comment on that!

The information we had on Wanaka advised it to be a place where many travellers opted for as an alternative to neighbouring Queenstown, in order to satisfy their search for outdoor/adrenaline sports. Now we never intended for this to be the case for us or to not visit Queenstown, but this place was en route and was a sensible place for an overnight stop as it had another of the road side stops which Queenstown would not. A visit to the information centre confirmed our suspicion that the details of this place had been somewhat optimistic, and would be in the shadows in comparison to Queenstown sports. We were aware of a good walk in this area though which we decided we would do early the next day. As the walk would be a big one we decided to relax prior to it by looking round the town for bits we need for the Inca trail in a few weeks.

Our early start the next day was much needed as 30k of the road to the hike starting point was gravel road, which added around 30 minutes to the journey which also encountered some fords and several varieties of animals including herds of deer.

Now at the start and geared up in walking boots etc we set about our trek, one of the starting bits been a suspension bridge leading into the woods. The track that followed was narrow and only wide enough for one person, with a few missing bits but doable all the same. This went on for some time and was a pretty tough uphill hike, until we emerged from the wooded area around 730 meters above sea level to be faced with the Rob Roy glacier. The last glacier we had visited was by no means as good as this one, or its surrounding scenery which had waterfalls of around 200 metres cascading down the rock face from the melting snow and ice. We spent some time viewing the area and having dinner if you ask David or Lunch if you ask Carina, after which we did the return downhill route back to the Van. After our look around the small town the day before, and the walk that would help prepare us for the Inca we were ready to leave Wanaka. So we headed off to Queenstown which would be around 1 to 2 hours drive, where we would hopefully find the crazy sports we were now in search of.