Yesterday we made another long drive putting in five hours, with a few stops before finding the hotel. In the morning, we were told to get moving if we had planned to walk along lake Matheson ( known as one of the top ten mountains in the world) before the clouds role in at noon. Good thing we tend to listen to the locals because those clouds did come in and hid the mountain tops just as we finished our walk. The lake was very nice with a beautiful reflection of the mountains. I promised the boys a special treat at the mountain cafe (part of a bribe to keep them walking). They picked a banana chocolate chip muffin and a chocolate chip cookie which ran us $8.00 exactly. Isn't that crazy? For those things, that seems to be the norm. Ice cream is about $4.00/scoop but well worth it!
We jumped into the car and drove to Fox glacier. It was a good hike up with a few mandatory rests. The glacier looked a lot bigger than Franz Josef glacier and it appeared more blue the further away we were. Carter insisted that he and Derek take an alternate route to a waterfall while braden and I ran down the mountain. We saw a few more kea birds flying around but still haven't been able to capture them on film.
From here we drove to the blue pools. These are crystal clear torquoise glacial pools that were the home of large brown trout. The boys ran right into them and walked across to the other side. I attempted but after one minute my ankles were killing me due to the frigid temperatures. I honestly don't know how they did it. But they did and giggled the whole time. Derek may have stuck his toe in to feel and that was it! He announced everyone was nuts. There appears to be a sand flea problem in NZ. Well, not really a problem as they always exist but a problem for us. These critters are like our black flies from what I can tell. They bite and itch just like them. These sand fleas found me as I walked out of this trail and I was itching the rest of the way. Argh!
This day ends us at our holiday home in Wanaka. It is a stunning and hopping town, with lots of shops and cafes along the beach. The top 10 holiday parks have been perfect for us. We have a self contained cottage for two nights. There is always a pool, trampoline, dune buggies and other kid friendly things for the kids to do. Today we kept it low key. Promised the boys a down day and no car drives. With that said, I got up for a run which has been very difficult for me to do. When I got back we went to the puzzle house. This was so cool. We spent hours in there looking at illusions and another hour conquering the worlds first 3d maze. We looked for a few souvenirs and grabbed a beer and ice cream at an outdoor cafe. So needed! At one point, Braden asked us how this trip would be different if we were here without them. I said that dad and I would probably be having many more beers at the cafes but other than that, we wouldn't change anything and that we wouldn't be here unless it was a family holiday cuz it's so big. He smiled.
We took the boys to do some clip and climbing at the base camp. We were told Carter is a natural and after a few tries, Braden held his own and increased his time as well. They lived it. They love the boiler room in kingston, but love this even more. They were hot and sweaty and stayed till it closed at 8:00.
We are quite late tonight at 8:45. I believe we will have a bit if a sleep in tomorrow before we head back to Queenstown. We tend to be on holiday mode now, waking up around 7:30-8:00 and lazy around till 10:00. So hopefully the boys will do that tomorrow.
T
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