We decided to escape for a few days, and headed to one of our favourite places: Wanaka, in the South Island.A couple of weeks ago Mr Kimi unexpectedly got a short-term membership to the airline lounge, which was a nice little bonus (we’d already booked the flights). Our flight was supposed to leave at 11 a.m. but was slightly delayed, so we got even better value out of the lounge.
We arrived in Queenstown about 1:30. Queenstown has the loveliest setting of any New Zealand airport I’ve been to, surrounded as it is by mountains. There’s lots of snow at the moment, so the mountains looked particularly nice. It was sunny and cold, with only a light breeze.
We picked up our rental car (I named it Dabchick, as its plate began with DAB) and headed towards Wanaka. We didn’t get far before calling in to Gibbston Valley for lunch – a very nice mussel soup.
The fairly short run to Wanaka took longer than expected, as the road was closed for half an hour while they knocked down loose rocks on a dodgy section – an ongoing process, as they were doing this when we passed through in March. But it really didn’t matter – we were warm and comfortable, and in no hurry. We got a couple of books out of our luggage and read for a while.
We got to Wanaka in the late afternoon and checked into Te Wanaka. It was our third stay here, and it really is a delightful place. The staff make it special.
We went for a walk, then went on to Cinema Paradiso. It’s rare for cinemas to have survived in small towns, but Paradiso does it by being different – in a good way. It’s decidedly quirky, and great fun. They have a nice little café, and we shared a pizza before going in to the movie. We snuggled into big, squishy old armchairs and settled down to watch a fairly new Kiwi movie called Sione’s Wedding. It was undemanding fun, and very much of New Zealand.
Paradiso still has an intermission! Everyone else dropped them decades ago, to squeeze in more showings. We went out to their little café and got hot chocolate and super-fresh, still hot from the oven, rich chocolate cookies. Snuggled back in the armchairs and drinking and eating such a chocolate feast while we chuckled at the movie made for a delightful evening.
We put our extra layers of woollies back on for the short walk back to the lodge and watched a bit of TV (it must have been forgettable, as I’ve forgotten it), then went to sleep.
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