Wednesday 26th December

Our final day in Wanaka and we woke to slightly cloudy skies but still very warm temperatures. The campervan needed tidying and after this was achieved we headed downtown for some shopping, a coffee (and cakes) and a stroll around Wanaka. We left Wanaka and drove up Lake Hawea to the point where it joins the northern end of Lake Wanaka and then further north up to the far end of Lake Wanaka stopping for a picnic lunch at Boundary Creek. Back to the northern end of Lake Hawea along an unsurfaced road for about 3 miles to our next overnight stop at Kidds Bush camp site which is a DoC (Department of Conservation) site with fairly basic facilities but in a wonderful scenic location at the end of the lake. Of course we swam in the lake but even we would admit that it was slightly chilly!

The trusty built in barbeque came into action again to produce pork chops, asparagus and hash browns accompanied by a modicum of NZ wine. At one stage we were concerned about some rather noisy near neighbours who were obviously continuing to enjoy the Christmas spirit (and probably spirits!). However after about 6pm the alcohol must have run out or their energy fizzled out – not a squeak was heard from them from then on.

It was a lovely place to stop and our first night of “freedom” camping was a great success. Tomorrow we drive to Queenstown.