Hiking to Roy’s Peak

Roy’s Peak

Jo left yesterday and were replaced by Brent and Moira as our guests at the apartment.  It was a big relaxing day in preparation for today.

Today’s plan (for me) was to climb up to Roy’s Peak.  Brent  and Moira were keen to join us for part of the hike.  The hike starts in Wanaka, which involved a 1h drive from Queenstown.  We set off a little before 0900.

We all started the track about 1000.  Brent and Moira would take their time and turn around when they had had enough.  It’s admirable that Moira was even doing this as she had only completed her cancer treatment a few months before.

After a while, Kim decided to stick with Brent and Moira.  That left me to go at my own pace, going solo.  After 2h20 of uphill zig-zags, with short rest stops, I reached Roy’s Peak viewpoint.  The weather so far had been perfect for the hike up:  cool and dry, sometimes cloudy and sometimes sunny.  That unfortunately didn’t translate into the best photography weather.  Roy’s Peak is supposed to be the most picturesque hike in the country that’s graded “Easy”.

It was another 30min hike to the actual Roy’s Peak.  Other hikers who had been said it wasn’t worth it as the actual viewpoint was nicer.  So I made the descent back to the car.  I made the downhill trip in a little less than 2h.  I had to make stops as my knees hurt, as if my joints were coming too close together.  And my toes hurt too against the nose of my shoes.

As I approached the bottom, I gave Kim a call so they would be at the carpark to collect me.  They had hiked a total of over 2h, which was an hour up and another hour down.  They had then gone into Wanaka for tea but not lunch.

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Cardrona Hotel

On the way back to Queenstown we stopped at Cardrona Hotel for a snack of chips and wedges in the delightful back garden.

It was a decadent treat as none of us had had lunch. But we were wary of over-eating before dinner with Simeon and Melissa at Pub on Wharf. That pub does NZD20 meals and we had eaten there last night with friends Melody and Brendan and their kids.