Lake Wanaka

It was back on the bus to head down to Lake Wanaka from Fox Glacier.  It was about a 5 hour ride.

We made a stop for breakfast at this salmon farm.  Brian, this one is for you.  They had salmon every way you could possibly imagine.

Similar to the last Intercity bus, we made several scenic stops for photos. The first was along the beach.

This is Thunder Creek Falls. The waterfall is about 300 feet.

We stopped off at another cafe for lunch where they had lots of US license plates on display.

This is Lake Hawea.

And finally, Lake Wanaka!

I have to say, all in all I was really pleased with the New Zealand Intercity bus.  One of my fares was only $1 because I booked it a year in advance and bought the first seat.  The others were maybe $20-$30, very reasonable.  I'd recommend!  Wanaka itself was absolutely beautiful.  A pretty small town, though bigger than Fox Glacier so there were just enough cafes and restaurants to choose from while still feeling like a small town.

For day two in Wanaka I took a 15 mile bike ride along part of Lake Wanaka and over to neighboring Albert Town.  Compared to my bike in Fox Glacier I had no issues with this one, so I'm not going to name it.  Granted I actually paid to rent this bike so perhaps that had something to do with it.  I really enjoyed the ride and the trails, there was lots to see along the way.

As I went farther along it really turned into a legit mountain bike trail with little hills and narrow curves.  It was actually a lot of fun.  You can just picture me now dinging that little bell like crazy.  Coming through!

I stopped for coffee and a snack at this bustling little cafe in Albert Town.  I enjoyed this stop as it was clear it was a local place full of Kiwi's.  

Then on the other side of the touristy scale I came upon Puzzling World on the road back to Wanaka, so of course I had to stop!

How do you not do a silly picture like this when you're faced with a leaning tower of Pisa knock off?

While we're taking silly photos, they have these fire danger signs all over New Zealand and Australia.  This one said low and when I got within 5 feet of it, the fire danger immediately went up to moderate!  I must be on fire folks! <ba-dum-ching>

After the bike ride I retired back to the BnB and for the first time did my laundry, woohoo!  The BnB was really comfortable as I really felt like I was crashing at a friend's house.  It's was a free standing house with 3 bedrooms and 3 bathrooms, but I somehow was the only guest there.  So I had run of the place and during breakfast got to chat one on one with the owners who were unbelievably great.

Back Patio of the BnB

They even made up a fire for me in the cozy little living room.

Wanaka was pretty relaxing, scenic and full of nice folks.  I'd happily return.  Up next, my last stop on the South Island, Queenstown!