Mount Aspiring National Park 1

We arrived in Wanaka, on the edge of the Mt. Aspiring National Park on 27 February. After a visit to the i-site (tourist information office) to ask about camping sites we drove a few kilometres west to the Diamond Lakes car park. No facilities here but camping in self-contained vehicles was permitted.
After a short walk up to the lake we had a bite to eat, and went to bed.

We had heard about a lovely walk in the National Park to the Rob Roy Glacier, and I was eager to do it. But the following morning there were some obstacles. The start of the walk was 30 kilometres away up an unsealed road. I wanted to contact a local 4x4 taxi to get us there and back but Lawson wasn't keen. On the other hand he agreed with me that it was probably asking a bit too much of Tim to do it.
So, still hoping that there would be a way to do the walk, I acquiesced reluctantly to a second walk from where we were.

Lake Wanaka from Rocky Summit walk

After lunch I tried again to persuade Lawson to agree to a taxi. His reaction was to propose driving a short distance up the unmade road 'just to see how bad it is'.
An hour later we had made painfully slow progress along the roughest, most corrugated road we'd encountered yet. Ahead of us was a ford, and an information board warning that the river bed could be washed away by rain, leaving vehicles stranded on the wrong side. After some deliberation, and after watching a couple of other vehicles cross the ford, we pressed on and urged Tim gently through the water.

Don't mess with me!

Deer herd

Until this point we'd been travelling down a broad valley where sheep, cattle and deer grazed, and bulls roamed free. Around the corner from the ford the mountains squeezed the road, and looking ahead to our destination (the DoC car park at the start of the walk) the sky was angry with rain. Thinking of the warnings on the information board we returned to the ford, crossed back over it, and parked off to one side. After the effort of getting this far we were reluctant to accept defeat. So we had lunch instead.