New Zealand circuit - Wanaka - strolling around - Hikuwai Conservation area - Day 13 - The 10th of March 2019 (morning and afternoon)

We had a free day to explore Wanaka, so Didier and I decided to walk towards the lake, having ended up making a wrong turn, which fortunately took us along herds of sheep, close to a fairly rich residential area and then a huge Conservation area, whose landscape along the Clutha river we were impressed by. We stopped along the way several times to admire the view and relax. It was fairly warm and we hadn't left the hotel prepared for such a long walk.

 

 

By the time we reached Wanaka again, which was late afternoon, we walked straight into a Lybian restaurant because we hadn't had anything to eat since early morning.

 

 

New Zealand circuit - getting to Wanaka - Day 12 - The 9th of March 2019 (evening)

We reached Wanaka in late afternoon having just had time to stop on one hill and get a view over the lake, get accommodated in the Wanaka Hotel and go across the back entrance of the hotel to the Bullock Bar restaurant where we had a copious New Zealand style meal consisting of meat, mashed potatoes and vegetables.

 

New Zealand circuit - On the way to the Haast Pass - Having Inanga for lunch; Thunder Creek falls - Day 12 - The 9th of March 2019 (afternoon)

 

As we were driving towards Wanaka we  stopped at some sort of isolated-like place for a lunch break, where we had "Inanga", the local name for white bait. If on one hand the cooking of these rather small fish looked rather strange, its taste was incredibly good, particularly because it was added to an egg mixture which in turn was fried and finally placed on toast.



We were then offered some chunks of lobster, whose cooking was carried out by the wife of the owner of the place we had had the Inanga at. She told us quite a lot regarding the ban period and the number of lobsters each restaurant was allowed to have during that period. I was impressed by the size of the lobster whe showed us. It was clearly much bigger than the ones I am used to see in my home country.

We soon drove to and stopped at the Thunder Creek falls, a short forest track with 30 metre falls dropping from the notch in the rocks and where the lanscape was absolutely fascinating with the mountain peeks in the distance.