Mini break

On top of Mount Iron

I’m just back from a four-day mini break up around Central Otago. We stayed two nights in Wanaka at a spa pool complex. There were seven pools (apparently all different temperatures) set in an outdoor area with an additional two swimming pools. It was heaven for my sore legs (karate – another story). We had several sessions in the pools, day, night – even in the rain at one point. I could only stay in the hot pools for about 10 minutes and then I have to cool off in the bigger pools.
Lake Wanaka

It’s between seasons so the town was really relaxed and quiet. The autumn colours were fantastic and the weather mild and sunny. It was just such a luxury to have time to nothing and nothing to do in it. Wanaka is an area that I am very familiar with – lots of family holidays over the years – so now I can just visit with nothing more to do than stroll along the lake front, wander up a hill or two, sit and have a coffee with a book and a roaring fire and feel no pressure to have to explore or see and do anything. It was fabulous.Lake Wanaka

We spent another night over the hills in Queenstown. It was misty and grey most of the time here, but we found warm spots to sit and relax in. It became a necessity for a place to have an open fire before we would go in. On Tuesday night I stopped for a port at a bar and the fire was so huge and so hot we could only sit in front of it for a few minutes before retreating to another chair. By Wednesday we had enlarged our requirements to needing; stone work, an open roaring fire, and a sofa that is well enough lit to read by (Hotel rooms are crap to read in!) We found the perfect spot for lunch in Clyde – an old Post Office that is now a café. It had all we wanted for that last wee luxurious time of eating, reading and coffeeing before heading home to the family.Diamond Lake