Christmas in the southern hemisphere

Camping isn’t much fun in the rain, but we were fortunate enough to have a beautiful week of summer weather in Wanaka, Mt. Cook, and now in Queenstown. We started off the week heading two hours north of Wanaka to Aoraki National Park, home of the majestic Mt. Cook. After a very windy first half of the drive (of course) we turned a corner and began one of the best drives of my life. We drove along the powder blue Lake Pukaki for the next half hour with the mountains beckoning us from ahead. Our weather forecast predicted rain for the day, so we expected an afternoon in our tent, but we were shocked to find a beautiful sunny afternoon when we arrived. We went on a short hike to Kea Point, where we saw much more impressive Mueller Glacier on Mt. Sefton than the ones we saw on the west coast. We got to camp right below Mt. Sefton too, which was pretty cool. The next morning we set off for what was claimed the south island’s most scenic day walk- the Hooker Valley track. It was a fairly easy hike with the flowers blooming and three swing bridges to freak Blake out. After about thirty minutes of hiking we rounded a corner and boom! Mt. Cook was directly ahead of us. I could tell Blake was in his ultimate happy place, chasing the mountain for the rest of the hike.

 

Stopped at the Clay Cliffs of Oamarama on the way to Mt. Cook

 

Mueller glacier in the background

 

Crazy Blake got up at 5:30 in the morning to get a sunrise picture of Mt. Sefton

 

camsite

 

Mt. Cook with glacier lake

 

 

Drive to Mt. Cook with Lake Pukaki

 

Blake on the Hooker Valley Track

We spent another two days back in Wanaka hanging around the lake and hiking Mt. Iron before heading off to Queenstown on Christmas Eve. We decided to treat ourselves for Christmas and book an airbnb for two nights to have the comfort of a bed and a home. Our hosts were absolutely amazing and insisted we go with them to their family Christmas lunch so we wouldn’t be alone. With the really hot weather we had that day, it was hard for it to feel like Christmas since “Frosty the Snowman” didn’t fit at all. Nonetheless, we had a wonderful Christmas (although sad to be away from our families) and were overwhelmed by the kindness of the relative strangers inviting us to be a part of their family for the day.

 

This is by the house we had Christmas lunch at with the Remarkable behind us.

Queenstown (known as the adventure capital of the world) is a lot like Wanaka scenery wise, but much busier. If you ever want to skydive, bungy jump, or jet boat, this is definitely the place to go. We went into the city center on Christmas Eve and spent the afternoon shopping with the masses of people there. Luckily, it wasn’t nearly as bad as going to the mall in the U.S. on Christmas Eve. They even have a Starbucks here, which meant we could get iced coffee finally! Yesterday was Boxing Day here (they have Boxing Day as a holiday rather than Christmas Eve) so the city was really busy again. We heard there were amazing views if you take the gondola up to the top of the hill, but a trip up was $30. Instead of paying, we found a really nice trail zigzagging up the hill to right where the gondola drops people off. We got the spectacular views, a good workout, and saved $60! Lot’s of people will ride the gondola up and then take a luge halfway back down the hill or the really brave can mountain bike down some black diamond tracks. We are headed out of Queenstown today to visit the Milford Sound and then headed to Dunedin on the east coast to spend the New Year!

View from the top of the gondola over Queenstown and Lake Wakitipu