30/31|01 -& 01|02|19, The calm before and after the storm, Roys Peak

Hello guys,

the last few days have been extremely exciting! After hiking the 'Isthmus Peak' the previous day, we had a day of 'doing nothing' due to acute muscle soreness. We slept in, enjoyed the weather, had a leisurely breakfast, went swimming in Lake Wanaka, and relaxed on the beach.

In the evening, we went to bed very early because the time we had planned to wake up required an early bedtime.

'Ring Ring....', at 2am the alarm clock rang. We got out of bed, got ready for the hike, I made myself a cup of tea, and off we went. Destination: Roy's Peak.

Roy's Peak could be described as the most famous hiking trail in all of New Zealand, at least it is one of the most well-known! We decided to climb the approximately 1550m high mountain in the dark and watch the sunrise over Lake Wanaka and the surrounding mountains from there. When we arrived at the track's car park just before 3am, we could hardly believe our eyes! More than half of the car park, about 30 cars, were already there IN THE MIDDLE OF THE NIGHT!😅 So we were obviously not the only ones who had the idea of ​​hiking to see the sunrise. With many other headlamps, we hiked for about 3 hours to the summit of the mountain. Hiking in the middle of the night was really fun on the one hand, but on the other hand, it was extremely exhausting and tiring due to lack of sleep. We reached the top of the mountain just in time for the sunrise and enjoyed the views with a hot tea! It was truly incredible and the effort and early wake-up time were more than worth it. Since it was very cold at the top of the mountain, the hot tea was a true blessing!😍

We took some great pictures, one of which could possibly be my absolute favorite picture of New Zealand, although I don't want to make any premature statements, as fortunately not all pictures have been taken yet and there is still much more ahead of us.

By around 9am, we were back at our car, completely exhausted and that already at 9am in the morning!😅 First, we went showering, then had breakfast at Subway, and then we just relaxed on the beach and slept in.

We had a completely relaxed day and then went to see the most photographed tree in the world, the 'Wanaka Tree'. A tree that stands in the water in a dreamlike setting. It may be a bit overpopular, but nevertheless, I thought it was a very beautiful place. We had a very amusing conversation while looking at the tree with a man who wanted to convince us of God. It was a very funny conversation, as he tended to make very drastic statements, such as "that he sees Satan in every smartphone" and many more. If any of you want to get an idea of ​​what we were being bombarded with during the conversation, you can visit the website "www.testeverything.net", which he highly recommended to us!😅

Afterwards, we went directly to the campground and quickly went to bed.

Today, we slept in properly. After we woke up, we went to 'Queenstown', the next amazingly located city about 70km away from 'Wanaka'. Throughout the day, we explored the city and I must say that I already love the city itself in terms of its offerings and location! It really has everything your heart desires, but - and here comes the negative point - there are either very expensive campsites or free campsites that are at least 30 minutes outside the city. In our opinion, the city is not suitable for a very long stay unless you are willing to spend a lot of money. However, we will still spend the next 1-2 days in the region around the city and surely have a lot of fun!

Greetings from Queenstown, New Zealand!🇳🇿

Your Tim!😊