The final saga...Day 5 - Wanaka to Glentanner
We woke up to beautiful skies and not even a hint of wind in the air. So I excitedly called the pilot for mom and dad's flight to Milford to verify that he would be picking up the folks to take them to the airport (I was going to stay in Wanaka and do some of the work I had brought with me). I was surprised when the pilot said they weren't going to fly that day. Apparently the weather was beautiful in Wanaka but just over the mountains in Milford it was cloudy, windy and rainy. Bummer. So with flightseeing cancelled the folks took off into town to do another run of shopping and for their ritual cuppa while I stayed in the campervan and worked. When they got back we decided to check out one of the wineries in town that had a golf course. Not an ordinary golf course mind you. A cross-golf course. I had mentioned the cross golf in one of my earlier blog postings and since then dad's been very excited to try it out. So we made our way to the winery, rented a set of clubs and bought three sets of oval shaped golf balls (they kind of look like miniature rugby balls, my thought is they were invented as a joke gift by some wacky kiwi who then found out that they would actually fly) and gave it a crack.
The game is similar to golf, except that instead of a hole, you're aiming for a net to land the ball into. And you get to tee up every shot. It was a lot of fun even though mom continued her dominance by trouncing dad and I. I think it was 39 to 52 to 59. I shot the 59. yikes. I couldn't figure out how to chip the darn thing.
Did I mention that the course doubled as a sheep pasture? Watchout!!
Lake Wanaka in the background.After wrapping up crossgolf and having a nice post match wine tasting we hit the road for Mt. Cook. We stopped at a little salmon farm on the way that I'd been to when Drea and I came through last year. We fed the fish and bought ourselves a very very fresh salmon fillet for dinner. Delicious.
Just before getting to our campground we stopped off at a viewpoint to catch our picture of Mt. Cook while it was slightly visible. You never know with Mount Cook if you'll be able to see it the next day so it often pays to take the picture when you've got the chance. Here's dad taking his picture and showing off his camera to the Japanese tourists waiting for the perfect shot at the same vista.
Day 6 - Mt. Cook to Ashburton
The next morning we woke up to yet another gorgeous day. Not a cloud in the sky!!! We jumped in the campa and took off for the entrance to the Mount Cook National park. I decided to take the folks on a bit of a hike up to the Hooker glacier. Dad said that since the surgery he's supposed to be walking at least 10,000 steps a day. So why not a four hour round trip hike with a couple of swing bridges along the way. Excellent!!! I loaned the folks my trekking poles and we started on our way. I'll let the photo's tell the rest...
Sunrise next to the lost climbers monument.
A nice view to reflect on .
That's not her real face.
Mount Cook in the background
Iceburgs at the Hooker Glacier
We left Mount cook thoroughly exhausted and started off on our way back to Christchurch. We made a quick stop at this cute little church for a photo op before continuing.
I had a place in mind to camp along the Rakaia river about an hour out of Christchurch but we were a little late getting there so we decided to stop in Ashburton instead. We found a nice little place to have dinner and dad ordered the most ridiculous thing on the menu. A massive hamburger with 2 patties, lettuce, tomato, onions, bacon, pineapple and an egg on a bun with fries and a salad. Totally Ginormous! He put a really good dent in it but had to give up after a while. We rolled into one of the local holiday parks, had a good hot shower, played some Cribbage (I finally won this time!) and went to bed.
Day 7 - Ashburton to Christchurch to Dunedin
Our last day was a bit of a marathon of driving. After breakfast we drove up to Christchurch and dropped off the campa. Bye campa! We gave a thought to exploring Christchurch a bit more but with the 5 hour drive to Dunedin ahead of us we decided to just hit the road. We made a couple stops along the way at a giant knitting emporium and a Salmon cafe (with requisite giant salmon out front) for a cuppa but for the most part we just barreled down the highway.
We got home exhausted and stayed in the rest of the evening unpacking and repacking for the folks trip home. We had one more game of cribbage in us however and Dad took this round.
Day 8 - To the airport
So our trip came to an end as I drove the parents off to the airport in the morning. It was so nice having them here and I realized when they walked onto the plane how much I've been missing having them around. I'm so glad I got to spend time exploring some of this country with them. I wish we had more time, there's so much to see. Hopefully we can convince them to come back next summer. Whaddaya say folks?!?
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