In Pursuit of Penguins

 Such poor internet so difficult to post. Trying this to see if anything will load  Wednesday   Headed towards the small town of Reefton. Called in to Greymouth on the coast. It seemed a quiet little place despite being the largest town on the west coast.  Picked up some stores and got back on the road. The landscape changed as the mountains became more distant and there was a lot more farm land. Big open skies with white fluffy clouds … perfect. We stopped for a picnic. Eventually arrived at Reefton. It was like driving into an old cowboy town…It’s a thriving country town and makes a lot from the tourists passing  through. This is gold rush country …it was mined in this area from 1905. Set up camp then had a walk round town, stopping for a beer in a local hostelry. 

Friday There are so many hikes to view points around lake Wanaka We chose to walk up Rocky Mountain. The walk was described as moderate which was fair apart from the sheer rocky scrambles we had to do. I was glad it was  a loop walk as I would have been sliding down those on my backside. The scenery was spectacular and the views from the top were immense. The descent wasn’t as tricky and again we were distracted by the scenery. Considering the car park was rammed there were stretches of time when we were all alone. I did stop to help a woman up a tricky rocky bit of he path, her partner was pushing her bum …no help at all!  Found an amazing coffee shop/ ice cream parlour called Patagonia.. had to sample the ice cream …so good and a very  generous scoop. Eating out has been tricky for decent veg food but the lunches, and treats have been great and cheaper than in the uk Paul has finally got fed up with the big beard look ( thankfully!) and went to a barber who has shaved h...