Wanaka

We started today at our Queenstown B&B which has afforded beautiful views of the sunset and sunrise over the lake. After bidding farewell to our hosts Bev and Ian we headed out of town to Wanaka. We had a stop at the "mall" near the airport to see if either of the salons there could give us a trim for a reasonable price. I was first up at the Cutting Room. An interesting salon where the haircutters had a variety of hair colours and tattoos. Mine worked out OK so Chris was next up and was happy with her cut and style.

A conversation with the stylist got me interested in the cost of electricity in NZ. Everywhere we have been, seems to rely on electricity for heating. In this area, they get -10C winters. She was talking about $600/month electric bills. I had to investigate. Holy shit, for a country that is 75% hydroelectric, their energy cost (delivered) is around $0.29/kwh. Even with all of our expensive bullshit "Green Power", we are only at around $0.11/kwh in Ontario. Something is really messed up here. There has to be a big opportunity for pushing energy efficiency in home heating. The insulation values of homes suck from what I have seen. Mostly single glazed windows. Lots of firewood for sale.    

After getting sheared, we headed up the Crown Range Rd. which provided a couple of great overlooks of the Queenston Valley.

As we descended the pass, we went through Cardona, a quaint vintage settlement.

Wanaka is Queenstown with fewer people. A lake surrounded by mountains and of course, great views.

We were a little early to check in to our apartment so we went downtown to have lunch and walk the waterfront.

After that, we did a hike to the summit of Mt. Iron which provided a nice overview of the area. It was hot and the trail was steep, about 27C,  making the 6 km hike a bit gruelling. Some great views on the way up and at the summit.

One thing you notice here are the metal roofs on homes. Almost 100% of houses have them.

We returned to town and picked up some groceries for supper. We have a fully equipped 2 bedroom apartment for tonight with a grille, pool, sauna and spa so the plan was for a meal at "home".

We also have a full size washer/dryer and it is time to get caught up on the laundry. A great spot.

We watched the sun set over the lake and mountains while relaxing in the outdoor spa. By the time we returned to the apartment, the wi-fi bandwidth had gone to near zero so I gave up on trying to upload the blog and we watched TV.