Roy's Peak

In the night, Wanaka and the Otago region were hit by a severe thunderstorm - trees were literally turned into firewood. It is said to have snowed in Queenstown - in summer!

Nevertheless, the sun was shining all day today, until the afternoon there was only blue sky and even afterwards there were only a few small cloudlets in the sky. That's how it should be!
To take advantage of the fantastic weather, I decided to tackle the most challenging hike right away: Roy's Peak.
The track, or rather the view from the end, became famous through a post on Instagram by a celebrity a few years ago. What used to be more of an insider tip is now one of the most famous day hikes.
Despite this, there are not hoards of tourists posting pictures of themselves at the viewpoint, and there is a simple reason for that: the way there is simply damn exhausting.

It's a total of 16km, so 8 up, 8 down. In the flatlands, I would practically run something like this before breakfast, but now listen: in the 8km, you have to conquer 1200 meters of altitude.
If you're good at math, you can calculate for me what the average slope would be.

From my feeling, I can only say: way too much!
The 8km also go constantly steeply uphill, sometimes more, sometimes less. I'm not exaggerating this time - take a look at the altitude profile!
But that doesn't stop me, the journey is the goal, and all that. Besides, I now consider myself one of the more experienced hikers and I don't shy away from a little mountain like this.

It was steep. Did I mention that already?

You're not spoilt at all: there are no trees at the edge that could provide shade. That's why it is also recommended to do the hike as early as possible (there are actually people who hike up there at 3 a.m., crazy).
I was well-rested, fresh, and lively and full of energy. But after 15 minutes, it became uncomfortably strenuous for me.
I started counting my steps.

One-and-Twenty, Two-and-Twenty, Three-and-Twenty,...

Six-and-Eighty, Seven-and-Eighty,...

It started over at a hundred. I don't know how many steps I took. At some point, I lost track.
I didn't even take breaks, at most a few seconds to catch my breath and stretch my calves. A look back, enjoy the view, a look up, despair. And on I went.

The sun also started to burn slowly, but then suddenly I was there.
I have to say that I'm quite proud of myself: the average hiker takes about 3 hours to reach the viewpoint. I did it in 1 hour and 40 minutes. Bam.

And then the view.

You can say a lot about Roy's Peak, but this view is simply stunning. Beautiful. Incredible. Insane. Fantastic. I'm running out of words. It was just so beautiful, I can't describe it.
Of course, I also took one of those famous photos from the viewpoint, but the actual peak was another 30 minutes above the viewpoint and from there you had the 360-degree panorama.

Oh.

Man.

I couldn't get enough of it.
At some point, however, it did get a bit cooler on the summit, so I started making my way back.
By now it was late morning, almost noon, and the sun was burning on our heads. I put on sunscreen, but I'm afraid I still got sunburned. Due to the altitude, the sun has a completely different strength...

On the way back, I also encountered some people who had to make the tough ascent under these conditions. My condolences...
I was simply enjoying the view the whole way down. If possible, the weather even got better and I was just so happy in that moment.

:)

When I reached the bottom, I hit the road and walked the 6km back to town and hitchhiked. It worked great and I was back in Wanaka.

It was early afternoon - What to do?

First of all, I devoured my lunch, I was so hungry. Then I had to give in to my craving for cheese scones: I saw them in the supermarket yesterday and have been thinking about them the whole time during the hike. When I wasn't enjoying the scenery, that is. I truthfully ate a whole pack of 6 at once, my body was screaming for energy.

But since I was pretty full and had a lot of time anyway, I took a little leisurely stroll along the waterfront. This time in the other direction, so I can check off another Instagram spot (No. 7).

But my legs were tired, my feet protested, so it was back to the hostel. Shower, food, rest.
There won't be much more happening today. I found out that I can use the WiFi in the library for half an hour. One less problem.

As sorry as I am, there are more hikes planned for tomorrow. Nothing compared to today's, but it will be many kilometers, probably over 30. But the weather is only supposed to be this good tomorrow, and I have to take advantage of that!