We’ve finally made it back to the chilly and gray LA Foothills after being swaddled in the delicious small-town culture of Wanaka NZ, nestled at the end of a 26 mile (oops, make that 42 km) long lake named Lake Wanaka, of course.
Although our bodies have returned, our current state of mind and spirit have been quite sluggish to get with the program. We fell hopelessly in love with this charming place and the breaking-up part doesn’t seem to be nearly over yet. Oh, the drama of little crybabies returning from vacation.
We arrived in February when New Zealand was still in its high throws of the summer season. It wasn’t quite the deep warm weather we had imagined (I was secretly hoping for hot), but it was indeed summery, with a magical early sunrise glow across the lakeside mountains bookended by an end-of-day dusky lavender sweet spot lasting deep into the 9 o'clock hour. You can thank NZ’s position so far south from the equator for those long evenings. (Actually only a few skips and a jump to Antarctica).
Which means there's lots of summertime light and no rush to hike all those little detour trails along the lake while heading back to town to your favorite take-away spot (New Zealand speak for Take-Out food place) then slowly make your way back to the rental flat with lake and mountain views.
Then it’s all relaxing, eating, red wine-ing, perhaps some hot-tubbing while watching the first stars appear above the glaciated peaks over the far horizon. And yes, we got ourselves quite intoxicated by this routine. The Otago County Pino Noir certainly helped, but mostly by the place itself. Who wouldn’t? It’s so blissful and dreamy.
There're gobs more to share, but for now this little snippet will have to do while we get our emotional state back to reality. Get comfy, it may take a while. Shakespear got it right: parting is such sweet sorrow.
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If you've made it this far, thanks so much for reading to the bitter end.
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