March 5th
Wanaka
Mileage: about 6 miles walking to and from town.
Since I had a place to stay, I had decided to take a zero in Wanaka. I didn’t really need to and I hadn’t really made plans for what to do with the time off. Klaus was heading on but Ruslan decided to stay for another day, as well. We all had a nice breakfast with Nic, then walked into the city center.
I went to a few outdoors stores, where I was able to exchange my socks for a new pair and get a new canister. Then I went to the library, only to find that the computers cost money and the wifi was slammed. Next was a sub-par lunch of kebabs and chips. I fed some chips to the ducks at the lake, which started a riot of ducks and gulls. I bet Ruslan that I could catch a duck, and in seconds I had one. I even surprised myself at how easy it was. Check another animal off the petting list. The duck got me back by pooping on my shoe…only fair.
We ran into Bertram while sitting outside a cafe. He hadn’t found a place to stay so I asked Nic. Of course he could stay with us. We went to the grocery for resupply and that night’s dinner: pizza. Then we walked back up the hill to Nic’s. We made a great salad to go with the pizza and Ruslan made an apple crumble dessert to use up a bunch of apples. It was another great, relaxing night.