Date: 1 January 2015
Distance: 10km (+6)

Our view waking up on New Year’s Day. Hope the rest of the year lives up to this breathtaking start! (© Gerry le Roux)

Crossing one of the little fords on the road to the proper start of the Rob Roy Glacier walk.

The beauty of New Zealand’s scenery never fails to leave me speechless. (© Gerry le Roux)

Love the typical turquoise colour of many of New Zealand’s rivers. The Matukituki River, with the swing bridge in the distance. (© Gerry le Roux)

Crossing the swing bridge over the Matukituki River.

A dash of colour en route.

Boulder hopping across a little stream.

A bit of a tricky section crossing a huge slip.

An early view of the Rob Roy glacier. (© Gerry le Roux)

Beautiful mountain streams. (© Gerry le Roux)

Snapping away. I sometimes wonder how many photos are taken per year in New Zealand. Must be millions! (© Gerry le Roux)

Arriving at the viewpoint at the end of the track, we were surprised by the number of people lounging around. Little did we know that these were the earlybirds, and that the masses were still on their way! (© Gerry le Roux)

The cameraman at work. 🙂

Lovely views of the Rob Roy glacier – a fitting reward to a nice little walk. (© Gerry le Roux)

Time for a lunch snack before heading back down.

Admiring the views.

Classic New Zealand scene. Mount Aspiring peeking out on the right. (© Gerry le Roux)

View of Mount Aspiring on a beautiful New Year’s Day. (© Gerry le Roux)

On the morning of the last day of 2014, Gerry and I left Te Anau for the Wanaka area in the hope that we would find a deserted spot in the mountains to see out 2014 and celebrate 2015 somewhere tranquil. We just weren’t in the mood for loud music, heaps of drunk, puking people and the usual hustle and bustle of new years parties.

Wanaka was buzzing with people, as were all the other towns we passed through on our way there. We stopped to return Gerry’s hydration vest, went for a quick browse through Mt Outdoors to see if they might have larger size packs, and ended up having a nice long chat to Steve Hart who told us about all the nice camping spots and walks in the area. Afterwards we went for a quick beer before following the road next to Lake Wanaka and into the Matukituki valley.

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