We had a rude awakening at 6.30 this morning when a siren went off. We looked out of the window – nobody was running about so we just went back to bed. When we did stir ourselves, we looked out of the window and there was not a cloud in the sky. The helicopters were buzzing around taking people up to the glaciers It wasn’t fair Fred wouldn’t let me go again!! We later found out that the siren was a fire alarm calling the part-time firemen out – the nearest fire station was at Greymouth, where we arrived on the train.


We set off on our drive to Wanaka - 287 kilometres away. We were told of a viewpoint not far from the Fox Glacier where we could see Mount Cook. – and there it was in all its splendour in a virtually cloudless sky.






On we went stopping many times when we spied a good camera shot. We passed Lake Paringa, Lake Moeraki and Knights Point on the coast road with a view of the Tasman Sea.




We drove through the mountain range , through Haast Pass and on through Makarora, winding through the valley and alongside Lake Wanaka for a while, then past Lake Hawea and then back to the side of Lake Wanaka again.

What a spectacle. Lake Wanaka is the fourth largest lake in NZ and about 40kms long and at the bottom sparkles on the edge of the Town.










After dropping our luggage off, set about exploring the resort. Gosh what a busy place! It is on the edge of Lake Wanaka and there were so many adventure activities on offer, sky diving, paragliding, jet boats, tandem sky diving – and of course we tried them all!!

Tomorrow we have an shorter drive of 273 kms to Te Anau where we will be staying for two nights, and I am going to take the wheel to give Fred a rest – Watch out everyone!!