Te Anau to Wanaka

We rose the next morning & enjoyed breakfast at the Cosy Kiwi Bed & Breakfast before heading off on the next leg of our journey up the South Island. Overnight the Alps had had a sprinkling of snow & even though it was a beautiful sunny morning the chill from the snowy Alps could be felt in the air.

Our departure from Te Anau was along SH94 & took us towards Kingston. We enjoyed a climb up through The Key before taking a gentle descent into Acton. We continued the descent onto SH6 into Parawa.

We ascended up through Athol and then another descent which brought us to the edge of Lake Whakatipu & the Devils Staircase. We rode along the lakeside with some dips, climbs & bends. The water in the lakes down here are amazingly blue & so fresh. We had great weather without the heat which made for great riding.

SH6 took us most of the way into Queenstown with the last part of the journey on SH6A. Queenstown, a place I've visited before, is beautiful but the surrounding towns are so much better given that they are not over populated/ruined by tourism. Now I understand that our economy relies on tourism & I don't, in general, have a problem with this. However, I do find it difficult to see parts of my country ruined/cheapened by the chase of the tourist dollar. I guess this sounds harsh given I am writing about travelling around New Zealand in this blog but I hope I am, here, showcasing New Zealand as a place to enjoy & respect.

After a quick stop in Queenstown, enjoyed a nice little ride through Arrowtown which I found very pretty & had an old worlde charm to it. We travelled further inland for about an hour until Cromwell where we stopped at Highlands Motorsport Park & I have to say if you enjoy fine looking powerful cars & bikes, this place is a must.

Highland Park has a well thought out race track which unfortunately neither Manny nor myself had the opportunity to ride but you do have the option to be driven around the track in a few amazing performance cars of your choice.

So after drooling over the wares there, we continued on our way towards Wanaka. This led us to another exhibit of some fantastic vehicles, the Warbirds & Wheels Museum on the outskirts of Wanaka. I was not disappointed here either. It is a fantastic exhibit & if you love fighter planes then you will enjoy this museum.

After another great stop, it was just a short ride to that night's accommodation at the Wanaka Kiwi Holiday Park where we pitched our tents & then headed to the pub for dinner while enjoying the view of Lake Wanaka.

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