NZ Day 14 Mou Waho Island

 Maybe I'll go at this from another angle.  Instead of trying to catch up on earlier dates, I'll enter some stuff from today, April 20th.  Today was an off-the-bike day.  We were hoping to take a flight to Milford Sound (fly to Milford Sound, cruise a little bit on a boat, and then fly back).  The 0800 flight was canceled due to cloud cover.  We held out hope we could go at 1:00 pm, but that was canceled, too, due to strong tail winds at the Milford Sound air strip.  We are going to try one more time tomorrow morning.  

Oh, and I had to mention that a number of photos that I use are not photos that I myself took.  I took the dull, boring ones.  The good ones have been pilfered from various others on the trip:  Wende Hargrove, Larry Matz, Cecille Taylor, John Engstrom, Roberta Kitowski, Jack Kitowski, Sarah-Lin Aamodt, Nadia Burleson, Bob Burleson, Patti Baumert, Terrie Hansen and, of course, Linda Lasswell.  I have also swiped screenshots from the laptop while Googling stuff.  So while I may not have taken all the pictures, rest assured I at least was THERE.  

After we received word that Milford Sound was off for Monday, Linda and I made reservations on the Wanaka Water Taxi to Mou Waho Island.  It was a 30 minute boat ride over to the island, 2 hours on the island and a 30 minute ride back.  It was a bit nippy in the wind, but the cabin was covered and protected from the wind and the spray.  We'd been nervous about what to wear and how cold or warm it would be on the island.  Turns out we were attired perfectly for the situation. 

Mou Waho Island:  Mou Waho Island Wikipedia  & BBC Article on Mou Waho

I ripped off this photo from the internet.  It's hard to tell from this angle, but the Arethusa Pool is almost 500 feet above the surface of Lake Wanaka below it. 

It's pretty cool.  There is a lake on the island, and that lake has two little islands in it.  So we have two islands in a lake (Arethusa Pool), on an island (Mou Waho) in a lake (Lake Wanaka), on an island (new Zealand) in the ocean.  

A beautifully posed fantail--by Linda Lasswell

Looking roughly south over the Arethusa Pool.

Looking NE over Lake Wanaka. 

LL & AO overlooking the Arethusa Pool, two islands visible in the background. 

From near top of Mou Waho looking roughly west towards Mount Alta, covered in clouds.

Lake Wanaka from top of Mou Waho looking northeast.

LL on the west side of Mou Waho with Lake Wanaka in the background. 

Linda at rim of Arethusa Pool. 

The two little islands in the Arethusa Pool on Mou Waho.