Wanaka

After the Kepler trek and one night in Te Anau, we woke up in the morning, said goodbye to the south of NZ and drove all the way north to Wanaka, another "must see" town.
We spent the next few days with Anna and Shmaya (since they had few days to spare until their Mildford trek).
Our Wanaka experience included only day walks and city attractions. No treks this time.
The first evening we went to the famous "Cinema Paradiso". The cinema is famous for it's cars and couches instead of the regular cinema seats.















It looks like someone opened a cinema in his living room. We watched the movie, and waited patiently to the intermission, where we had to run to the counter to buy the famous hot cookies & ice cream (the cookies are important part of the cinema experience). They only make 1 cookie per 2 persons. We had to use our Israeli abilities to negotiate the long queue. Few minutes later the 4 of us were holding the famous and expensive cookies. (Roi : "Sarit makes better cookies than those").
The next day we climbed to Roy's Peak, a 1578m high mountain near the town. The way to the peak is very steep and full of sheep pooh, but when we reached the top it was worth it - we saw a fantastic view of Wanaka lake and the Matukituki valley. We learned that in NZ, best views involves sweat and effort. :)










































That evening we decided to celebrate Christmas eve with our own meal - a picnic on the shore of Wanaka lake.
The next day we drove to Matukituki valley. We already saw parts of this valley from the Cascade Saddle (Rees Dart trek). We walked to Rob Roy valley to see the glacier (again, the south American glaciers are much more impressive).















It was Christmas day, many people came to sit in the lookout point and had champagne and wine. We ate the regular snacks and continued to the next destination - Aspiring hut. We walked through the green Matukituki valley,





























had lunch in the hut and walked back to the car park.
The next day we went to the famous Puzzling world museum. It was great! we enjoyed all the illusions and the human maze (Orel, you would have liked it).














Later we said goodbye to Anna and Shmaya, and the amazing Fiordland & Mt. Aspiring national parks. We spent a month in that area and only scratched the surface.