Days going by

 We have now been here in New Zealand for about 18 days and have about 27 to go. We can’t believe the time is flying by so fast. Last Sunday daylight savings time began and we went back an hour. We are now 19 hours ahead of AZ. The changeover was a bit of a shock to our systems as we have not experienced such in the forty plus years we have lived in AZ. We have settled in quite well in this year’s rental house. It’s quite bright with a plethora of windows. When the sun is shining it’s a real mood lifter! Today is one of those days!  We just returned from the New World Market our go to grocery store.  Kind of like a Safeway. There are two of them here in Wanaka, one much larger than the other. The best parts are the excellent bakery and the great selection of beers. In actuality most of the time I’m enjoying an IPA called “Phoenix” which is quite tasty.  One with dinner every night.   

 

In the last five days we have gone on some beautiful walks that are fairly lengthy.   These are NOT boring walks at all.  Wanaka is known for its beautiful scenery and when you throw this in you look forward to the hikes. A couple have been just spectacular, namely the Wanaka Lake outlet/Clutha river hike and the Luggate Trail walk. Please see the nearby photos. Lake Wanaka is huge (about 30 miles long ) and very deep, over a 1000 feet. It is kept full by massive snow melt running into the lake carried by numerous rivers. The only outlet of the lake is the Clutha River. On this hike you pass the beginning of the river flowing out of the lake and you immediately get a real sense of the massive volume and speed of the water. Unfortunately the camera does not do the river justice. Just walking on the path is stunning with the river rushing by on one side and a small mountain on the other all carved into a masterpiece over the eons. A bit sunny, a bit shady but always spectacular. While hiking about two miles on this day we took a couple of hours stopping to check out the river, Iris climbing trees and Molly, the family’s Black Labrador Retriever jumping into the river multiple times to recover the sticks thrown there. She instinctively knew to keep very close to the shore but gets a lot of joy out of her shenanigans.  

 

On Sunday we headed to another section of the Clutha River a few miles downstream. More up and down walking than before but we were able to follow a small tributary called the Cardronna River to the point of it flowing into the Clutha.  It was a treat to see it mix with the big river and create very strange currents that actually flowed upstream roiling fiercely. Malcie threw a few branches and sticks into the river and watching them defy gravity and flow was mesmerising.   Even Molly was confused. This trek was also a peaceful but stunning walk. We were sweating when the walk was done. The weather has been quite good with a little rain here and there. Cold in the morning with sunny afternoons.

 

On Saturday we attended the biannual Festival of Colors event. A day of fun viewing different cultural events including dances, acrobatic insanity, book binding, ukulele band, other bands whose members should NOT quit their day time jobs, flowers and food.  It was quite well attended with very cheery and happy people.   

 

Yesterday afternoon Joan and I attended Iris’ ballet session which was anything but boring.  I had never really seen ballet being taught and it was quite interesting.  The teacher obviously knew what she was doing and the little girls really worked hard to get it right.  I took mostly videos and just a few photos. The forty-five minutes went by in a flash.Iris was the best student by far but she is a bit older than the rest. I really mean this!!

 

Please do check out the photos and Joan and I love to read comments!!