Hiking in Wanaka

About an hour north of Queenstown is the charming town of Wanaka. We had been planning a hike to Roys Peak, which is a peak of Mount Roys, for quite some time.

But first, let's start from the beginning. After exploring the city center, we strolled along the beach of Lake Wanaka to the famous Wanaka Tree. The "spectacular" thing about this tree is that it grows in the water of the lake. When we arrived there, we had to admit that while we had never seen a tree growing from a lake before, it was ultimately just a tree, albeit a beautiful one, with its roots planted in water half a meter deep.

So we continued to our campsite to rest well for tomorrow's hike. As we were getting ready to sleep in our car, we noticed a campervan diagonally opposite us. It was gray and had three mountains painted on the side, just like the van of the English people we had wwoofed with in Invercargill towards the end. After a short observation and two checks, we dared to knock on the door and, indeed, it was Charlie and Tom, poking their heads out. They were, unlike originally planned, on their way to Hokitika (a small town on the west coast) to help Craig and Jane with their glamping business. They were setting up the tents for the one-day food festival and needed the help of the two wwoofers once again.

We chatted for a while, but the next morning our paths separated after breakfast because we had to drive in opposite directions.

The day was sunny and warm like yesterday, and we knew that the five-hour hike would not be a piece of cake. Nevertheless, at first, we climbed the steep trail motivated and kept catching beautiful views of the town of Wanaka behind the lake. The trail got more and more challenging towards the end, so our motivation dwindled. But when we finally reached the top, we were rewarded with a clear view of Lake Wanaka, Mount Aspiring, and the many other mountains.
Unfortunately, we were not the only ones taking advantage of such a beautiful day to hike to Roys Peak. This was evident from the overcrowded parking lot below Mount Roys, so we had to wait an hour before we could finally take a photo from there.

In the end, it was completely worth it for this stunning view.

Based on the recommendation of the English people, we planned another hike to Rob Roys Glacier for the following day. While relatively unknown, we initially drove 30km on gravel roads and small fords to the parking lot.
The trail meandered alongside a river up to the base of the glacier. From there, we had a beautiful view of the snow-covered masses of Rob Roys, and the numerous waterfalls made it even more breathtaking.

Spoiler alert: Although we only saw the Fox Glacier from a distance and the Franz Josef Glacier up close, we have to say that Rob Roys Glacier was by far the most beautiful.

The next few days, we continued up the rainy West Coast, but more on that in the next blog entry.