Blue

New Zealanders hate possums. I am talking real hate here, not the namby-pamby way in which people throw it into their sentences, but proper burning, loathing disgusted hatred. As such, many of them have taken to driving in the darker hours solely for the purpose of swerving and hitting possums out of existence. Today, on the road from Fox Glacier to Wanaka, we have passed no less than 52 dead possums on the road. What is more disturbing, is that many of them were in such a good state that they may have been sleeping. This means they were probably all hit within the last twelve hours. New Zealanders really hate possums.

On other things however, blue is an apt word to sum up our trip today. We set out from Lake Matheson, marvelling at the view of Mt Tasman and Mt Cook gleaming away in the morning sunlight. To our delight, it continued to get both sunnier and warmer throughout the journey, so we had lots of stop offs. First up, we had elevenses at Knight's Point, an elevated lookout across the clear bright blue Tasman Sea. This was at the calmest we have ever seen it. To the South-East was Tasmania, to the South-West was Antartica. We sat on a picnic bench and had sandwiches while watching the gentle waves cruise into the shoreline.
Next up, we stopped at the Blue Pools walk. This was a brief 30 minute trek (nothing after yesterday) through the forest and across some swingbridges to the blue pools of glacier water. Glacier water is blue due to the high concentration of mica suspended in it and these were so clear you could see the borwn trout hanging in the water as if there was nothing there. We sat on the pebble beach and regarded the mountains and played with the glittery sand. Back at the car, we made lunch and gave cheery helloos to every single person who wandered past the car.
We trugged on through the mountain roads (you know the drill by now, twisty, turny, steep, vertiginous...) and all the time we were just surrounded by epically beautiful snow capped mountains and waterfalls and creeks. Finally, getting closer to our destination, we drove past Lake Wanaka. Immense, edged with forest and spectacularly deep blue, we parked up and stared at it for a while. However, just around the corner, was Lake Hawea. This was breathtaking. It quite literally has exhausted my list of descriptives. We went down onto the beach by scaling some crumbly, rocky slopes. The beach was made up of smooth, flat stones, all pinks and greys, blues and greens, all with the ever-present mica making them glitter. The water was luminous blue, deep and intense, like Venetian glass. In front of us, across the lake, were the snowy mountains. Around the edges were mountains covered in brown-green scrub. Unbelievably the day was actually full on hot by now and it was so lovely.
Reluctantly, we left the lake and drove onto Wanaka town. This also captured our interest, due to it not being American-looking, but the buildings actually suiting the surroundings, resembling nothing more than an Alpine Village. We are treating ourselves (and the other tourists we occasionally come across) to have showers tonight, as we have foregone such luxuries for over a week now. As such, we are parked up in Wanaka Lakeside View Holiday Park, which I am happy to say has very nice showers, nothing like the pit of doom that passed for a shower in the last place we paid to stay. We have a view of blossom trees, deep blue lake and snowy mountains. It is so hot, I have put on shorts and a t-shirt. I even got out sandals and am seeing my bare feet for the first time in about a month. I also do not ache from yesterday's glacier hike, as I thought I would. Life is good.