Last leg of the trip

We woke up early today for the long drive north from Lake Wanaka to Christchurch. Christchurch is where we will be flying out to go back home. Along the way, we stopped at a McDonald's for some food. I decided to try the Kiwi burger and no, it is not made with Kiwi meat. The Kiwi burger is made with a beef patty, a fried egg, lettuce, tomato, and red beet root. How interesting...but very good!

There was one point where we were very low on gas. It was a scary situation because the gas indicator needle was at "E" for a while and there was no gas station in sight! The gas stations are very far and few in between along the highways of NZ. It is not like back home. We stopped off to ask for the nearest gas station and we were told that there was one 15 minutes away. We were worried we wouldn't make it but luckily, we made it and it really was 15 minutes away!

A lazy day at the Lake

We spent the day at Lake Wanaka today by bringing with us some crackers, mussels, cheese, nachos, salsa, hummus, and wine. It was difficult to eat in peace without a gang of ducks approaching to beg for food. These ducks are so used to humans that they are not afraid to come close. One poor little girl was feeding a duck when it nipped at her.

I went into the lake with Alice where she taught me how to float on my tummy. I still get nervous in the water. It is so wonderful to just relax by the water watching dogs run happily along the beach and swim in the water. There were many ducks and seagulls just hanging out by the shore.

In the evening, we went for some take-away fish n' chips and brought it back to the lake to eat. I love how the fish n' chips are wrapped in newspaper the old fashioned way. Mmm, so delicious!

Attack of the Keas

Early this morning, we were woken up by thumping and cooing noises on top of the van. We were visited by large brown birds the size of birds of prey. I reckon these were the Kea birds that signs around the campsite had warned us against feeding. There were four of them rocking the van. I peeked out the window and saw that two of them were pecking at one of the girls' backpacks. One of them was trying very hard to pull a towel out of the backpack. I didn't know whether to go out and save the bag or stay inside the safety of the vehicle. I decided to tap on the window to get their attention. It worked. They stopped what they were doing, stared at me then one of them started screeching. I was afraid he was calling for backup. To my relief, they flew away 1 minute later.

We drove from Fox Glacier to Lake Wanaka today. Along the way, we found a salmon farm and bought some salmon pate, sandwiches, chowder. Yummy!

We will be staying at Lake Wanaka for 2 nights. We will do some swimming and relaxing!