Lake Wanaka

I know, I know, so many of my photos are of lakes and mountains, frequently together. Soon they'll seem commonplace, even no longer worth noticing, like ornate churches and cathedrals in Europe after a few days of touring there. Nevertheless, these lakes and mountains still seem quite beautiful and photo-worthy to me now. Yesterday we did a short hike up Iron Mountain (no one knows why it's called that, as no iron is to be found within), where we had this gorgeous view of Lake Wanaka. After the hike, we had a picnic lunch on the shores of said lake before hopping on mountain bikes to ride a dirt path along the lake's shore and into scrubby countryside. It was a perfect weather day, very warm with loads of sun and blue sky. During our picnic lunch, someone in the group had the idea to take a group photo on the kids' slide in the adjacent playground. The slide looked like a big stegasaurus (dinosaur), with stairs up the tail and a bumpy slide over its back and down its head. Our guides kindly agreed to take the photo while the rest of us trudged up the stairs and then tried to wedge ourselves into a slide that was not meant for adult hips! The kids playing on the side protested. "This is for kids, not adults!" We even got some dirty looks from the parents. I haven't seen the photo but I'm sure we all look sufficiently ridiculous, stacked on top of each other with our legs hanging over the sides between the dinosaur's spiney plates. This is the stuff memories are made of! P.S. Have I mentioned how happy I am to be in the Southern Hemisphere summer instead of digging my way out of the 15" of snow that fell in DC recently? Ha.