We actually left Franz Josef on time today - 9 AM. Baby Whale was supposed to go skydiving over Fox Glacier today but it was canceled because of weather. It's beautiful in town, but I guess weather over the glacier is much different. There's actually a drought in New Zealand right now that is causing concern. Steve said that this is the first time that he's done this drive to Wanaka without rain in the summer. We started driving and stopped along the way at some scenic points.
It's a really long drive, crossing the Southern Alps through the Haast Pass. At one of the waterfalls we stopped at people had made little cairns and inukshuks out of the flat river stones that cover the river banks. Very cool.
We stopped for lunch in a little town that I swear consists of two cafes and nothing else (except the gas pump in from of the cafe we stopped at).
I had a very nice cranberry, brie, and pine-nut sandwich. New Zealanders sure are fond of brie. And meat pies. I've never seen so many meat pies on offer than in this country.
We made it to Wanaka at about three and Susan and I walked about town. It's very small and charming - like a ski chalet town, which it is in the winter. It also has very expensive clothing shops. I did get a very cute t-shirt, though :)
We got back to the motel and decided to go for a cheap curry for dinner with Ronnie and Norrie, as we were thwarted in our quest for curry the other day. We think the restaurant we went to, Sagun, was actually Nepalese, as all the pictures on the wall were of Nepal and the guy behind the counter was wearing a Nepalese t-shirt. I had a really nice Lamb Anarkali, which I've never heard of before. The mango lassi and naan bread was also delicious. Susan had the Lamb Rogan Jhosh, which was supposed to be mildly spiced but she thought was mild. To make up for that she then ordered another naan with the vindaloo sauce on it. Now that was spicy!
After dinner we went for a walk along the shores of Lake Wanaka, which was lovely. Along the whole sidewalk, to commemorate the year 2000, the city had installed tiles that listed important events in history going back 2000 years. Some of the facts were wrong (like the date of the Battle of Bannockburn) and some were reporting legend as fact (like King Arthur and Robin Hood), but it was really interesting nonetheless. I really liked that it did not focus mainly on European history, but incorporated Asian, Pacific, and African history as well.
We met up with the rest of the group at the hotel bar for a while and then off to bed. We have bunkbeds in the room with no ladders to the top bunk, so poor Ronnie and Susan have to kind of jump and hoist themselves up. I'm glad that I'm not in a top bunk tonight because I can see myself getting stuck up there.
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