Lake Wanaka

Lake Wanaka (south Island) is New Zealand's 4th largest Lake at 27 miles long.
It is surrounded by mountains and it is truly beautiful, especially in the season of Autumn witth all the different coloured trees along the banks.

We stayed here for 3 days, at the YHA hostel which is on the bank of the River.

We've been blessed with beautiful sunny weather and blue skies, 17-19 degrees C.

The first day we went Kayaking in a 2 man Kayak. This was the first time I have ever been in a kayak wheras Anne is semi-professional! It was only 15$ for an hour so we took the kayak out for 2 hours!
I quickly got the hang of it and we managed to get round quite a lot of the lake  - it was very calm which made it easier! It was so beautiful.
As it was a sunday, we decided to have our own church service (minus the notices, collection and greeting!)
We sang hymns about God's marvellous creation including "O lord, My God, when I in awesome wonder...."
and I gave a short talk on John 3:16!

In the afternoon, we took a walk around the lake for about 2 hours - it is the most photographed lake ever!
We also did a bit of singing as we walked around the lake as well as stop for our 1 Peter bible study!

The next day, we walked around the Lake in the opposite direction and completed the circuit.
In the afternoon, we went on a jet boat along the river Clutha  - 220  miles long. Apart from our driver, we were the only 2 passengers for the hour's trip! It was great fun - we were travelling at 50mph with the occasional 360 degree turn and lots of half spins! It was also lovely to see the scenery along the way as well as some wildlife.

In the evenings, we had dinner and had 2 trips to the Paradiso cinema. This is a quirky little cinema with couches for seats and the option of sitting in an old car! During the interval, you can buy home  made cookies fresh from the oven so of course we felt it was almost rude not to have one! The first night we went to see The best exotic Marigold hotel which we enjoyed very much, especially because it is set in India and the second night we went to see "My week with Marilyn" (Monroe).

We have loved our time in Wanaka and it was also  a chance to sleep in a bit, do some washing and book our onward hostels etc.

Hope you are all well, love Kay and Anne