Day 18: Saturday, March 8, Wanaka

It felt like this kind of day.

After a late morning we headed into town to the A&P. The first thing we went to were the sheep dog trials. It really is interesting to see the dogs in action. The man/dog combo must guide the sheep around or through several obstacles. The final test is that the sheep must be herded into a gated pen. Once the man touches and opens the gate he cannot let go, meaning that this last test is almost totally up to the dog. We then went to the main part of the A&P. An A&P is sort of their version of our livestock show. Lots of animal showing, carnival rides, vendor booths to sell everything from mops to boats, and entertainment on a couple of stages. They also had the Golden Lamb competition going on (which they call the “Glammies”); it’s a search for the best-tasting sheep in NZ. We got there at the perfect time because after the judges did their sampling they cut up the rest of each roast for the audience. I got to taste some of the best lamb in NZ, and boy was it good – all the meat was unseasoned, too.

Part of the view from Mount Iron looking into the Lake Wanaka valley.

When we left we hung out for a while at the edge of Lake Wanaka. It was a very nice day – windy and sunny. (There has been a significant wind almost every day we have been in these central South Island towns. I’m pretty sure it’s because all of the valleys act as funnels, just like in Milford Sound.) After that we hiked up to the top of a hill near the town that gave us a 360 view of the town, the lake on which it is situated, and the surrounding valleys. We finished the day with tacos back at the hostel. Surprisingly, the grocery had tortillas, salsa that wasn’t great but wasn’t just tomato sauce, and taco meat seasoning. It was great.

Our hostel here was small and not totally full – we stayed in Able Town, a short drive outside of Wanaka. The other residents included a Japanese girl traveling for an extended period by herself, the first one I’ve met doing so and one of the few Japanese I’ve seen in hostels; two Israeli girls who just finished their mandatory military service and were each traveling solo until meeting each other in Australia; and a trio of girls from some Asian nation who watched Desperate Housewives in their native language on a laptop over dinner. There was also a Dutch man who dislocated his ankle a couple of days ago; he and his wife decided to finish their trip anyway, and I wish them luck. Last but not least was a British couple. I wouldn’t have known they were a couple except that the man referred to his wife. The man was older (late 50’s?), well-traveled (he had climbed mountains on a number of continents), and very loquacious. Every time I ran into him a long conversation invariably ensued. He would launch into new topics unprodded, and if there was a lull in the conversation that would normally imply the end of a conversation he would stand there awkwardly until he realized you weren’t going to ask a question and continue the conversation. He talked to us while we at dinner and he stood next to the table, and he even had a “conversation” (read: monologue) with me while he was sitting on the toilet and I was brushing my teeth. I didn’t hear his wife utter a word the entire time I was there. (He talked about Yellowstone once and pronounced geysers like “geezers,” so I laughed inside when he said that Yellowstone was “full of geezers.”)

Something we picked up at the A&P had a chart showing the New Zealand dollar (NZD) vs. the USD. In 2002 the NZD was worth US$0.40; in the last three months or so it has gone from about US$0.78 to US$0.82. I hate Ben Bernacke and our spendthrift Congress.

Housing prices are another story here. Prices are astronomical. One person said that it’s a big problem because school grads can’t afford any housing. We got an ad for a realtor as we walked into the A&P that they wanted you to fill out if you were interested in looking for a home in the Wanaka area. It asked you to circle the price range you were interested in and the lowest price range was NZ$500K-600K. That might have been simply because they don’t want to serve anyone below that range, but I doubt it. We have seen signs in realty windows for empty lots starting at $295K, and most houses are in the $700K+ range. I’m sure there are a lot of components (including the cost of shipping materials in this rugged country), but one frequently cited reason is foreigners with strong currencies buying NZ real estate that, while pricy for Kiwis, is cheap for foreigners with a good exchange rate. It also seems odd because these towns are tiny. The largest town we’ve been in since leaving Christchurch (pop. 300K, on the eastern coast) has been about 3500. If the demand is driving prices I would have expected to see rapidly growing towns and lots of construction, but I haven’t.

'Nuff said.