Tarras and Wanaka

We cautiously left the Ohau Canal and hoped for the best as we approached the Lindis Pass. The weather magically fined up for this part of the journey and we enjoyed the scenery through the Pass. We stopped at the viewpoint at the top and realised there was a walkway to another viewpoint about 200m on. We went to explore, and the ,views were magnificent, as you would expect. The landscape definitely had that alpine feel to it.

At the Wanaka end of the pass is a little town called Tarras, which is a historic settlement founded in high country sheep farming, and some gold mining. It regards itself as the New Zealand centre for Merino wool, and was also the home of the legendary Shrek – the sheep that avoided being shorn for 6 years, by hiding in caves. When they did catch up with him they got a fleece weighing 27kg off him – a normal fleece weighs about 6kg.

The township is charmingly preserved.

The cafe was closed so we continued on towards Wanaka, and the rain had started again by this stage. We elected to stay at the Mt Aspiring Holiday Park, and were very pleased with the place. Great facilities and a good price and nice views over the lake and the mountains behind it.

In the morning there was a covering of snow on the hills behind us and a better covering on the mountains behind them, but no snow on the ground around us. The weather was actually 100% better than forecast and the dire weather warnings faded away..

Despite the weather still being a bit showery, we managed to get a walk in with the dogs, and Wanaka certainly has a lot going for it in terms of walks etc. Then there was the obligatory exploration of the shops, but we never did manage to find the gelato shop. We did tiki tour around Wanaka though looking for the new dump station just out of town (finally found it despite the lack of signage); LPG, and finally diesel.

In all, we had 3 days at Wanaka and on the last day managed to have lunch with Ian, a motorhoming friend of ours who is parked up for the winter in Wanaka. From here we decided to head to Glendhu Bay, about 10k outside of Wanaka. We had intended to stay there before going to Warbirds over Wanaka, which was cancelled, so we had put our booking on ice, so to speak. Now was the time to thaw it out.