Food feud

Very steady and sedate beginning to the day - usual 2 cups of coffee and today, a little morning reading.  Headed off around 11.00 to the Blue Pools.  I suggested yesterday that the development over the road from the campsite was to be the over spill parking for the pools.  My 1 minute drive to the 'old' pools parking revealed enough space, though parking and reversing out along the main road could be a bit of a hazard.  I guess that will have something to do with the new development.

It's about a 10 minute walk along a well-trodden track to the pools and I was one of a continuous stream of people who made the trek.  Along the way I was captivated by these wee riflemen - or should that be rifelmans? - as were half a dozen or more others each pointing their cameras or phones and clicking away merrily.  The birds themselves seemed too intent on their search for bugs to be too affected by the presence of people.  It wasn't until I looked closely at my pictures after the walk that I saw I'd manged to capture this scene, a scene that could have many captions attached to it!  I love the look of the bird in the background whose eyes seem to betray some envy.  Or maybe he's in cahoots with bug-muncher and is keeping an arch rival at bay by pinning him with a claw.  And I say claw intentionally - take a look at the length of the back claw on these bad boys (extras)!  

Arrived in Wanaka mid afternoon and did a few chores.  Decided I'd have a late lunch at a cafe and, it still being the height of the tourist season, there were no free tables outside.  There was however, one man sitting with a very young baby at quite a large table so I asked if he minded if I sat at the other end of the table?  He happily consented and was soon joined by a woman.  We of course ended up chatting and spent a very enjoyable half an hour plus sharing experiences (they were from Germany and were half way through a 7 week campervan holiday in New Zealand.  The baby was 6 months old.)  They were very happy to hear some suggestions about places to see, things to do, places to camp and so on and we eventually headed our separate ways.  Imagine my surprise then when, at the summit of the Cardrona Road where I'd parked up for the night, they pulled in alongside me an hour or two later!  We've just sat outside in very cool conditions overlooking the beautiful view down to Queenstown and shared more stories of life in Germany, New Zealand and England - they're such a sweet couple who are loving their New Zealand experience.  How cool to be able to do it with such a young baby. 

Tomorrow is time to head towards Fiordland.