From Albert Town Campground to Wanaka
Hiking time: 09:20a.m.-02:00p.m.
Daily/Total distance: 14km /886km (230.5 hitched/skipped, 84 biked)
Steps: 24598
Weather: clear

This morning I took it easy to get going, knowing I would only have a “short” walk getting into Wanaka. At first the path lead to some of the outer edges of Albert Town, following the river towards the lake. All along the path was for walkers and cyclists only. The walk along the river was very beautiful with the sun shining about.

Then the river went into the lake. Here were more people going about, enjoying the sunshine. At this point I still had some ks to go before reaching the town centre.

While walking beside the lake I stopped to talk to some of the people living right by the lakefront. They really have a nice front-yard view, even if it is unpayable. While I was talking to an older couple, a big group went by on bikes. Some stopped to also pet the dog of the couple I was talking to. Turns out, these people were touring 2 weeks through New Zealand with the same company that I had met at Lakehead Hut some time ago. Of course it was different people, but they were following the same itinerary.

After 30 min of talking I continued on. Now the lakefront was getting busier. More people out on a stroll as well as people out and about on boats. Finally I reached Wanaka. Before getting to my hostel I went on the search for stores selling Icebreaker socks. The first store informed me they would only exchange ones that I had bought in their store. So I continued searching. While on the hunt, I came across a hunting and fishing store, where I was finally able to get some metal straps for my gaitors. Finally!

Then I went to Outside sports. Here I was informed that they would exchange my socks if I bring them to them freshly washed. Well, this is what I wanted to hear. So I went and checked into my hostel, Base Wanaka. Nothing special, one of those hostels where the Kiwi Experience drops the people off and that seems to party long into the night as I would find out later.

I dropped everything off in my room and went in search of the laundry. This was unfortunately broken though, and I had to go to the public laundry facility in town. So off I went, getting my clothes nice and clean. While my laundry was in the machine, I realised that I didn’t have anything for lunch yet, so I popped into Dominos and got a nice Meatlovers Pizza for lunch.

With lunch sorted, I went back to the laundromat to eat while waiting for my laundry. After it was done I went back to the hostel to distribute my washing all over my bed to get it to dry. Then I set about looking up the next few days, realising that the Wi-Fi in this place was seriously lacking. I also found out that my powerbank was not really charging, neither was my phone. I do not know if this is due to my plug or if there are to many devices on the circuit. In the end I decided to see about this later and first buy some food at the supermarket next door. I need food for 4 days to reach Queenstown.

At the New World I spent quite some time looking around to get everything I wanted. I also got a card from them to receive some discounts on the products that I had chosen. Then it was back to the hostel and sorting and repacking everything. While doing this, I was messaging with the couple from America, as they were planning on getting to Wanaka that afternoon as well and we wanted to go grab some dinner. After I was done sorting through my things, I found my socks dry enough and went back to Outsides sports, where they were replaced without any problems. Yai, new socks:)

With all the business done for the day, I was now waiting for the other two to be ready to get dinner. We agreed to go for the Burritos at the food truck in town. They sounded very nice when I was told about them a couple of days ago.

With the Burrito you could choose how spicy you want it. They had a hilarious ranking, explaining about the different levels. I went with a 2. I wanted some spice, but knew I couldn’t handle a lot. The others got a 5 and 6. According to them it wasn’t that spicy, but for me the 2 was more than enough. My throat was burning from the experience. After finishing this delicious dinner, we went down the street towards my hostel, as they both planned to go to the cinema which was across the street. On the way there we stopped at another food truck, where I got some Cinnamon Donuts. I remember there being a tiny food truck in the centre of Christchurch selling these when I was there 10 years ago. They were so good. So I got 10 here as dessert:)

After this we split ways. I went back to the hostel, trying to use the Wi-Fi. I didn’t have much luck and in the end ended up calling back home with the remaining minutes on my SIM card. As it expires 5 days later it doesn’t really matter much anyways. The only problem was that my powerbank was not charging at all. This poses a problem, as I will need it during the next section. In the end I got the person at the reception to charge it on their computer. Hopefully this will work. Then I went to bed quite late at night. I’m not planning to start early the next day as it is supposed to rain in the morning.