Rocky Mountain Track

This morning we got out of bed somewhat early and headed down to the Diamond Lake / Rocky Mountain Track. It's about 15 kilometers outside of Wanaka, and since popular opinion seemed to think it was going to rain later in the day, we wanted to get a tramp (hike) done early.

I'm getting used to driving on the left side of the road, but one thing I'm not quite used to yet is the lack of cars on the roads. This morning when we headed out I think we saw about 5 other cars the whole way there. Definitely a big change from San Diego.

After parking, it's a 10 minute walk to Diamond Lake:


Then the trail takes an upwards slant, going through spots of heavily enclosed switchbacks.


Halfway up is the Lake Wanaka lookout, with panoramic views of the lake, Mount Aspiring, and other local features, but due to the cloudy weather we couldn't see everything.


From there, we continued up the trail to the top of Rocky Mountain. The path was pretty difficult at times (we don't have any good pictures of those parts - we were concerned with just not falling over the side), with steep and muddy switchbacks - the trail was very narrow and when you looked down it was a long way to the bottom. However, we didn't fall, and ended up taking the easier way down :).


Afterwards we made lunch at home then went to see the Lime Tree Lodge, a property that Dana's company works with. Then we hit up the Wanaka Beerworks Brewery for a tasting. After that we headed back into town for a latte and to walk around a little.


Tonight we're going to 'The Cow', a local pizza place that Sally from the Lime Tree Lodge recommended. We peeked in this afternoon and saw a roaring fire and a cozy atmosphere. We may have more to report on this later. :)