Sunday 23rd Tekapo to Wanaka

The morning dawned with brilliant sunshine and we headed off to Wanaka. The lupins continued to accompany us on our journey lining the roads on both sides

First stop was Lake Pukaki which was a stunningly blue as Lake Tekapo had been and we had a wonderfully clear view of a snow capped Mount Cook, the highest mountain in New Zealand.

As we drove down Lake Dunstan to Cromwell, we were amazed to see hillsides covered in brilliant yellow. This was apparently a type of forget me not, although we think there may have been a different type of low ground covering plant there also.

Our plan had been to make it to Mount Difficulty (a well known vineyard and restaurant) for lunch. Mount Difficulty is at Bannockburn just south of Cromwell. We arrived at about 1.30; it looked very busy including a party who had arrived by helicopter! We made a lot of the fact that we had come all the way from England for lunch and got the last table. It was a lovely start to our stay in Central Otago.

After lunch we joined the throngs purchasing Mount Difficulty wine and headed off towards Wanaka. This part of Central Otago is famed for its stoned fruit and we stopped near Lowburn to purchase cherries and apricots and apples. On the way to Wanaka we received a text from Hilt with a wine tasting invitation which we hastily accepted. David, Hilton and Anne's eldest son, is getting married to his fiancee, Jess in February 2014 and the event will be held in Rippon Vineyard and after trying out the proposed menu, they were turning their attention to the wines and we joined them there.

we then had a lovely swim in Lake Wanaka before joining David, Jess, Hilton and Anne and Helen and Richard (who had by that time arrived from Wales) for a barbecue.