Wanaka again

After the ladies left and we had a night out of fun with our Queenstown friends, Mariah and I looked north. We hitchhiked to Wanaka, which we'd now been to twice before, in order to hike and reunite with Mike and Chris!

It was a much-needed vacation from our vacation from our vacation, so we didn't do much besides lay around on the beach, do a couple small hikes, go kayaking, and go to an agricultural fair (which included a sheep herding competition). Some pictures to recap:

There and Back Again: A Knobbit's Tale

The next day was our day off. We decided to take advantage by doing the Alex Knob hike, an epic 8-hour hike. Mike generously offered to drive us to the trail head--a walk would've turned it into a 12-hour hike, so we gratefully accepted. He dropped us off that morning, and we began our journey, fully loaded with lots of water, sandwiches, and snacks. We were prepared for anything. What could go wrong?

The beginning wasn't too bad--just a gravel road through the rainforest, although it was uphill the whole way. Then we got to the fork in the road, where we could decide between a 10-minute jaunt to Wombat Lake, or start climbing the ridiculously steep rock formations that apparently formed a "trail" to Alex Knob.

Road to Wombat Lake

This is more or less what our trail looked like at the beginning...only steeper.

So we took the scary trail, still feeling fresh and adventurous. We started out well, stopping occasionally to take pictures. We were walking in a cool, shaded rainforest, so we weren't even getting hot or thirsty. At first.