Miracle lake

A miracle because we could barely see Lake Wakapitu this morning as we left Queenstown in heavy rain. Had a brief visit to the gold mining settlement in Arrowtown and had to dash into a little coffee shop to escape the downpour.

We crossed the highest paved (sealed) road in NZ over the Crown Range only completed in 2000.

We dropped down to the Cardrona valley and a stopped at the Cardrona Hotel for lunch. One of the oldest in New Zealand and delightful. It is named after a village nr Peebles in Scotland on the R Tweed so it was of particular interest to our Scottish friend.

The clouds lifted and we were greeted by the sun here in Wanaka. Another superb lake setting - running out of superlatives!

It is a miracle sight after this mornings weather but we only have a night here before heading for the West coast. Before that we are meeting Tussock Tales and Cycling Granny for coffee in the morning and to pick up Blipbear!

Sorry this is another lake shot but I had to make a quick decision as we went for a Patagonian  cream ( as recommended by our Milford Sound guide) on the shore  front and discovered they had free Wifi!