The courtyard at the Cardrona Hotel.

The general store across the road. We had a little walk to check out the mini town of Cardrona that includes a general store, the hotel, and a gift shop.

Very cute little place.

Eric has come up with the saying “little kiwi big world” to capture the essence of New Zealand. Although we haven’t been to hobbiton, it feels like most locals are hobbit like and the structures for houses are also bite size. A pretty stark contrast to the vast landscapes and amount of space we have seen in the country side.

Can’t get over how cute this place is.

As you can see the grass is slowly starting to turn green! The lady at the car rental said spring is coming this week and it’s much earlier than normal. Yay!

I decided to get the courage to drive our rental car today after Eric headed back up to work.

I wanted to do a shorter trip to get the hang of it so I drive to Wanaka (20’minutes) from the hotel. I parked at a spot alongside the lake for a few moments.

Lake Wanaka seen here ^

I quickly made my way back to the Cardrona hotel to avoid driving in the dark! The road between Cardrona and Wanaka isn’t the worst but it isn’t well lit.

I made my way out to the courtyard for a glass of mulled wine inside this neat little glass house. Mulled wine seems to be a staple in this country.

I say here and watched the sunset while enjoying the mulled wine.

Had to make my way back into the restaurant for some dinner and a hottub before I went back to the room to relax.

Checking out of the hotel tomorrow morning and onto the next adventure- Queenstown.

Stay tuned 🌸