Mount Aspiring National Park Via Wanaka

I know it's been a while since I've posted. I've been working like a madwoman--more than 40 hour weeks! (Those of you who know my laid back work habits would be surprised!) But more work = more money = more TRAVEL for me! Despite the long work hours, I've managed to take a few trips. About 2 weeks ago, I stayed in Wanaka for 2 days, and on one of those days I did the Rob Roy Glacier hike in Mount Aspiring National Park. I saw a glacier (an some avalanches) for the first time in my life. I felt really privileged to have seen a glacier cuz after watching An Inconvenient Truth on the plane ride here, who knows how much longer they'll be around. Though it doesn't seem like global warming is hitting New Zealand cuz it's still freezing here! Supposedly, summer is around the corner, but I'm still sleeping with a heating blanket. Anyhow, I digress. The 4 pictures below are from my hike to the glacier. There was a cool suspension bridge to cross over the river at the beginning of the hike. And I met a fellow Bay Area resident on the hike, who kindly took my picture at the summit.






The next few pictures below are from the lake in Wanaka, which was absolutely beautiful and so peaceful. It was actually warm and sunny that day, so I took a nap by the lake, listening to the calm waves come to shore.





Along the lake in Wanaka is a sidewalk with hundreds of tiles, each tile representing some historical events from each year over the past hundreds of years. So you'll see from the pictures below that in 1756, mayonnaise was invented in France. And in 1956, Elvis Presley sang "Hound Dog," and the Hawea e Wanaka Pony Club was formed. Ha ha!




And lastly, below is a picture I took on the road from Wanaka to Mount Aspiring National Park. I thought it was a nice picture.