25^th December 2015 – Christmas Day!

Poor Steve had one eye closed and one eye on his watch all night long waiting for sunrise. He woke me at 5.30am. We got up, got dressed and stepped outside, only to see that the sun had already risen, but the whole sky was shrouded in heavy dark cloud. So we went back inside, and went back to bed! Lol

Yeah – Steve is never going to be a sunrise photographer.

We showered and had breakfast and headed back down to the Boulders! Ha ha ha – it was 10am by this time and OMFG the place was packed full of bloody bus loads of tourists (of the asian variety mostly). Didn't anyone tell them that it was christma day? We thought we would have had the place to ourselves! Ha ha ha – how wrong we were.

So no real photographic opportunities with that amount of people. The skies were starting to clear, so we got a mix of blue and clouds. We made the most of what we could with the crowds of people continunually walking into our shots and then we left.

Off to WANAKA !! Yeah baby – Off to see the famous tree! :)

The road we took is the inland Otego Goldfields area. It took us up over the top of the mountains and down into the plains. Just gogeous scenery. Quite desselate, with small shrubs and tussock grasses. Lupins were out and in bloom periodically – even long side the road! Very pretty. Hardly anyone on the roads too. Its a bit like Tasmania in that respect.

So many places I wanted Steve to stop so we could get some nice mountain images, but in NZ, they don't do “shoulders” on the roads and they drop away quite steeply, so in this big bus, there was no where to pull over – very annoying!

As we head closer and closer to Wanaka the mountains are getting bigger and bigger and we can see snow off in the distance.

Its a balmy 25 degree's with blue skies and big clouds. The clouds look almost fake. Hard to describe, but they do look like they've been photoshopped in!

I love all of the homes here – new and old. The old ones have so much character, and I'd love a quaint little stone cottage. There is quite a mix of architectural styles and you can see they have been heavily influenced by the different cultures who have taken up residence here.

The locals have been AWESOME BRO !! Very happy, & laid back.

Oh have I mentioned the sheep? They are bloody everywhere! Ha ha ha ha NO seriously -

its amazing to see how many sheep they can get to an acre as most paddocks are jammed packed with them. And the colour of them – they are SO WHITE and CLEAN!! I haven't seen a dirty sheep here yet.

More sleepy towns we are passing through on the way to the Wanaka – yes, it is Christmas day so everything is shut, but they do look like ghost towns of sorts.

The motorhome is good. Its Steve's first time in a motorhome, and my second (although my first time was very short – 1 night). We don't know how 6 people can be in this van at the same time!! lol Our camper used to be a KEA – apparently thats a top end one. So we have all the luxury features, all be it a bit old. Full sized shower (if you are a hobit), good kitchen & fridge. Plenty of places to sit. Steve isn't sold on the whole “camper” thing yet – we'll see how we fair after 4 days. I did catch Steven using the dust pan & brush to sweep up the floor earlier!! OMG - I was so proud of him! Ha ha ha ha. But thats the key, you gotta keep these things spotless and things packed away, otherwise it'll get out of control very quickly.

We stopped off at the top of the highlands for a cuppa…. You know, like how other people stop and take in the view. Even though it was Steve's decision to stop – he was keen to get back driving only minutes after pulling over! Lol  

The views heading into Wanaka got more and more breathtaking with every turn.  So disappointed that we couldn't stop the van to take any photos - damn NZ and no shoulder or layovers!   We could have done what a few of the tourists were doing, and that was just stopped DEAD in the middle of the road - really?  We had heard of it, but we got to see it a few times yesterday - crazy drivers.

WOW Wanaka - what a gorgeous town.  Much larger than we anticipated.  This also had a ski chalet feel to the place with all of its stone building facades.   Lake Wanaka is stunning.  It was close to 30 degree's when we pulled in and the place was buzzing with Christmas Day activities - water skiing, stand up paddle boarding, kayaking & swimming.  The place was packed!

We found "the tree" fairly quickly.  I was surprised to see that the lake was full of small granite pebbles - no "beach" as we know it - all pebbles! 

We scoped out the composition and then we drove off in search of a van site for the night.  We were very lucky to score the last remaining van site at the Wanaka Kiwi Holiday Park.  Fantastic!!  A must stay for next time.  Great facilities, awesome toilet/shower block.  Fully contained kitchen, BBQ area's and even a spa & sauna.  Free Wifi too.  

We got settled for a couple of hours and tidied up and made the most of wifi.  We had dinner, and spoke to some of the other tourists and shared our "must see" locations, before heading oft to the lake to photograph the tree.

We didn't have the tree to ourselves - wishful thinking.  But we didn't have 1000 photographers there either.  By sunset there were a bus load of asians who'd pulled in, but they stayed well back.  We spoke to a great photog from Germany who had been travelling for 12 months!  (.....jealous...).

Unfortunately, the cloud gods were once again not smiling on us...   a cloudless sky, and very little snow remaining on the mountain tops.  But we still managed to get a nice composition and a bit of colour.  It was just glorious to be on the edge of this crystal clear lake to watch the sun set on Christmas Day.  How lucky are we?