Our little lodge was infested with bugs last night. We had left the window open to keep it cool. The house is by a lake kind of in the middle of nowhere. Because of this bugs are everywhere - especially nasty sand flies and mosquitoes. We closed the window but there were already dozens of bugs flying around buzzing in our ears and biting me when they gathered enough courage. Fortunately they didn’t keep me awake. In fact I fell asleep and slept the whole night through, which doesn’t happen very often. 

We got up, had our fresh made toast, said goodbye to those we had met in the lodge and made our way up to Wanaka. About a hundred kilometers north of Queenstown, it is another tourist spot with ski resorts, hikes, and a massive lake. It is also a base for venturing farther out for whitewater rafting, skydiving, and other activities. We picked out a hike to Roy’s Peak - the highest point in the area at about 1,500 meters. It was described as hard and I remember laughing to my brother saying we would show them how hard it wasn’t. I was proved wrong and the mountain very nearly won. Driving about ten minutes outside of town the small parking lot was full. I was surprised as we went up the trail how popular this hike was. Within a few minutes I realized this would not be an easy walk. I’m not sure if it’s all the driving I have done, lack of real exercise or food, or something else. But I was extremely weak and had to make many stops on the way up. Sheep dotted the lower part of the climb and there were still some young lambs in sight as lambing season was only a couple of months earlier. 

The hike consisted of many switchbacks of various angles. Some were not too bad - others were extremely steep and caused me to wonder how much I wanted to reach the top. I even tried to run up one and all that did was make me take a break for about ten minutes. We made it up at a good pace though, as we passed many people on the way and no one passed us. I bought a jacket and hoodie, but we were working hard enough that the t-shirt was easily enough. In about two and a half hours we reached the top. There is a short cut to the peak that cuts off the last ridge by going straight up the face of the mountain. We chose this way. After being exhausted and out of breath with tight muscles this may have not been the best decision. I was crawling by the time we reached the top - not just because of the steep incline. Once I reached the ridge line I just sat there on my knees trying to breath and gather the strength to continue to the summit. 

The views at the top were more than worth the effort. It was a cloudy day, but we were still able to get a 360 degree view of the town, lake, and various mountains surrounding the peak. We could see for miles in all directions. I love hiking and the reward of spectacular views. Before we headed down we found a nice little spot of grass to lie down in. I used my hoodie as a pillow and easily could have spent the whole afternoon without moving. The climb down was not short and by the time we got back to the car it had been about four and a half hours. We drove back into town, checked into our hostel and proceeded to take a two hour nap. Dinner - once we had woken up - was a taco truck a couple of blocks down the road. It was filling and pretty good, although for some reason they put cabbage on their burritos. 

Shower and sleep followed.