Roys Peak & Wanaka

After yesterday's highlight, we have another one planned for today. The alarm goes off at 3 o'clock and after a small breakfast we drive to the Roys Peak Track. Ahead of us is a mountain in complete darkness - above it a wonderful starry sky. A little further up you can see a few lights from flashlights. So let's get going, the climb is expected to take 2.5 to 3 hours. After the first 10 minutes we are already tired. The path leads steeply uphill, with only a few small sections that are not so steep. By now, other people have also set off. However, everyone is spread out and there is some fear of walking in the darkness. Suddenly we see 8 shining eyes in front of us and nothing is moving. On closer inspection, we see 4 sheep staring at us. However, they don't make any effort to make room for us. Feeling a bit unsure, we approach the animals and after some consideration they jump into the tall grass. After 2 hours, a red glow of the sun slowly appears behind the mountains. The last 30 minutes are still very exhausting. Once we reach the top, we have a great view of Wanaka and the surrounding mountains. Unfortunately, there is quite a strong wind up here and we are freezing despite our many jackets. Finally, at half past 7, the sun rises and slowly the warmth comes. After taking a few pictures, we can't stand it anymore and start heading back. Warmed up again, we make a breakfast stop and enjoy the great views once again. Then it's a steep 2-hour descent of all 1200m. By now, it is really warm and when we watch the sweaty hikers struggling up the trail, we are glad we did the whole thing in the dark. With sore feet, we happily reach the bottom and first catch up on some sleep.

In the evening, as a reward, we treat ourselves to an award-winning ice cream that tastes delicious. Afterwards, we go to see the famous tree in the water, but well, it's not really that exciting after all 😁

Before we continue to Queenstown, in the morning we visit Puzzling World. Here, there is a maze where we wander around for 45 minutes, and also different illusion rooms. A tilted room where water flows upwards. A room where I suddenly become much bigger than Patrick, and many pictures that make you think.