Half Time.....

Not that I want to be reminded, but we're half way through our amazing trip. Today was a day we've looked forward to for five years & it did not disappoint.

We woke to rain, as promised last night by our host. It was beautiful watching the lake while we ate breakfast. The sky was gray & cloudy, the water a much darker color as rain hit it. We took our time leaving Lake Moeraki & headed down the Haast Road. This is a spectacular road filled with lakes, waterfalls, rivers & winding curves. What we could see of it, through the windshield wipers did look amazing. I'm sure weather conditions did not permit us to see it in all of its glory! We were not able to stop to take pictures....too rainy.

Love the bridges in NZ. They have the funniest names. Last time we were here we drove over Cardrona Bridges that were numbered 1-13....13 consecutive bridges. Then the one after the 13th, was 'Unnamed bridge' Today we drove over a bridge called 'Half Bridge #1'. Shortly after we drove by 'Half Bridge #2.' Together do they make 'Whole Bridge #3' that we've yet to discover?

We drove straight through with a brief detour to Wanaka. Another area where we stayed last time. About an hour out, we noticed a big stream of traffic (ok maybe 10 cars in a row) coming from the north & commented on it. A few minutes later we were at a standstill with several other cars going south. Road work in progress apparently. Sat for about 15 minutes. The funny thing was the guy who decided (3 cars from the starting car) to get out & wander off into a field for unknown reasons (& maybe some reasons I don't care to know about) As the cars started moving & bypassing his car, we saw him running back through the field. Funny!

Arrived at our 'gold standard' favorite place to stay, White Shadows, where we were greeted warmly by Mike with a hug and a 'welcome home'. Perfect greeting & we were so happy to be here. Mike's partner Bill, and Zoe their white terrier, greeted us shortly after. Zoe stood back at first, a little leery of the new arrivals. That, or she's been speaking with a certain white dog in Denton who warned her about us......

We wandered the grounds, marveling at the temperatures. We lost the rain about an hour before our arrival. We got here to perfect spring weather. Sunny and warm...and absolutely the opposite of what I thought we'd have. Heading south, we figured it would be much cooler. Think about that one because I had to....In this part of the world, you go north for the winter.

Bulbs are in bloom, flowering trees are opening up, baby lambs running through the field below the property. Everything else was just as we remembered, including our wonderful hosts. We visited & caught up for awhile, with a promise of more talk to come over wine. I got to sit on the deck with a book, watching the sheep. Amazing.

Went to Arrowtown tonight for dinner. We were also there on our last trip but will head over there again while we're here to wander around. From our window seat at dinner we saw two people we had dinner with last night at Lake Moeraki! Eventually they made their way to our restaurant & we had a brief chat.

In for the night......with bath tub, hot tea, a book and a movie all waiting for me.