Day 5 and 6: Wine/Beer Tasting and Via Ferrata

Day 5: When it rains, it pours... so why not go wine and beer tasting?

While graciously agreeing to be the designated driver and photographer, Kelly tried her hand at left side driving. She was a pro, of course. Handled all the hard lefts and wide rights like a champ.

We started off at Rippon Winery, a vineyard right on the lake. 


The view from the winery was pretty even with all the rain clouds.


Then, Rhyme and Reason Brewery.




It was a nice lazy day of tastings... we also checked out the Lazy dog winery and bistro and Wanaka Beerworks. Then, came back for a soak and some homemade dinner a la Kelly. Kelly gets the MVP for the day. Man, we’re lucky!

Day 6: Wild Wire Via Ferrata

We learned about a climbing technique called Via Ferrata, which began in Italy in WWI. They used this technique to help soldiers who were inexperienced climbers get thru the mountains. The couple who started the company have climbed all over the world. They decided to bring it back to New Zealand.

We set out for the beginner’s version called Go Wild which would have been climbing the height of the Auckland tv tower (150 meters). We ended up getting talked into the Wild Thing, the height of the Eiffel Tower (320 meters high). Yea, that’s right we climbed the Eiffel Tower of water falls! 

All laughs to start out


And then it got real...




And people starting hanging off of bridges and such.







Some of us looked down...




Some of us grabbed on for dear life.




But man was it pretty!




Yes, Nate... we did have our obligatory couple uniform. We came, we climbed, we conquered!


The walk down was still a little dicey, but we were happy to be back on our own two feet. We all were walking toward the van and I turned around and caught Johan staring up at the waterfall for a while. Johan is the small dot circled toward the bottom, the red arrow is how far we climbed. It was pretty mind blowing.


In the end, we were all pretty happy to be back to the van, Mandy showed it the most. We were cold, tired and ready for a soak and a cocktail.


One stop before we headed home, a quick shot of  #ThatWanakaTree



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