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***Warning: Photo-heavy post!***

We woke up in the morning of day 9 to find everything frozen solid! The road was slippery and icy, our car windows were all frosted up…brrrr….!

We headed to the main building of the hotel for a hot buffet breakfast and spent some time taking photos of the hotel surroundings before packing and loading everything into the car and heading out.

The scenary was unbelievably beautiful! Even though the sun was out in full force, every available surface was simply blanketed in thick snow. The sun’s rays glinted off the icy particles in the snow, making it sparkle like crystals. I was like a little kid, going ooohhh and aaahhhh every five minutes! As the weather was much better than yesterday, we drove back to the Church of Good Shepherd to take a few more photos. While we were there, I spotted a couple taking their wedding photos…with such a picturesque backdrop, and the majestic Mt. Cook in the background…I’m sure those wedding photos will be amazing!

En route to Lake Wanaka, all we saw was snow, snow and more snow! We made a quick stop at Lake Pukaki, famed for it’s mirror-like sheen…unfortunately, the water wasn’t still enough on that day to capture a perfect reflection of the mountain and sky, but we still managed to take some lovely photos nevertheless. Along the way, we saw piles of stones being piled up at the side of the highway. It went on for a good 10km…and the highway was virtually deserted…so who did it? The sheeps? We’ll never know…

As we drove through Lindis Valley, hubby had to slow down considerably as the roads were covered with ice. We were driving at 20km only! Parts of the road that were exposed to the sun coming through the dips of the hills were ok, ie. the ice had melted, while the rest of the road in the shade were still icy! What an experience! Luckily, salt and gravel had been scattered along the road earlier, so it was still safe to drive. In fact, we were lucky they didn’t close the road altogether like the day before at Farlie!

Finally, we drove past Lindis Valley and left the snow behind us. Along the way, I managed to take an interesting photograph of a rock face…literally (see photos!). The scenery had now changed to green fields with snow-capped mountains in the background…still stunning, nevertheless!

Before reaching Lake Wanaka, we made a stop at Stuart Landsborough’s Puzzling World for a bite to eat. I’d originally wanted to try out their huge maze, but when I saw that it was made up of wooden planks, not hedges, I changed my mind. Not authentic, mah!

Leaving the Puzzling World behind (and moi still well and truly puzzled!), we drove another 20+ minutes to finally arrive at Lake Wanaka, a small town with a beautiful lake. Coupled with stunning views of Mount Aspiring in the backdrop, it’s no wonder this place is a holiday attraction. The sun was still shining brightly when we arrived and the water in the lake reflected the rays…the lake was literally glittering! We just had to stop by to take some photos before driving up to Edgewater Resort, our stop for the night.

The hotel we were staying at for the night is situated along the banks of Lake Wanaka, and our room had a view of the garden and part of the lake. The room was quite big, and located on the first floor of a two-floor building, so poor hubby had to lug our suitcases up the stairs! Nevermind…exercise is good!

As usual, after unpacking, we headed back out again to the town centre…first, taking a walk to take in the surroundings to hunt for thimbles (found a bead shop!), then, in search for food, and finally, armed with our cameras, we drove to another lookout point along the lake to take more photos just as the sun was setting.

We ended the night with dinner at Thai Siam, where we had pineapple fried rice (not very nice…who puts green peppers in pineapple fried rice?!?), spicy fried rice (hubby’s main, of course) and fried chicken wings.