Wanaka Agricultural And Pastoral Show, 1

In two plus months of driving around New Zealand we'd seen a number of signs advertising A&P shows, although always missing them by a few days or weeks. In Wanaka, however, we hit the jackpot, the Wanaka A&P, occurring the entire weekend following our Rob Roy hike, and taking place in the immense fairgrounds between our holiday park and the lake. Wanaka is not a huge place, but it's in the middle of a large agricultural zone, Central Otago, and, with COVID, hasn't had an A&P in probably a couple years. We extended our campground reservations and bought tickets for the opening day with high expectations. From the campground, we could see them putting up the tents and such all over the fairgrounds...450+ exhibitors, shops, services, etc., plus all the paddocks and pens and such.

"A&P" stands for "agricultural and pastoral." Sort of like county or state fairs in the US, although rather less in the way of textiles, cooking, and such. Maybe even rather less in the way of agriculture, too, depending on how widely you construe the term. (Gin, for example, is definitely agricultural, in my view). We've seen our share of county and state fairs, having lived in places like Tallahassee, Columbus, Dallas, and Missoula. And we love going to markets anywhere we're visiting. Always an opportunity for learning and amusement. And for interesting food and arts and crafts. And amusement. So Wanaka's A&P was a natural. And we were not disappointed.

It is immense, many rows and aisles, 454 exhibitors...probably
visible from outer space

Nice, nice day for a show

"Ssshhh. Be vewy vewy quiet. I'm hunting wabbits"

Interesting; dogs are not permitted at the show, except for 

service dogs and show dogs; such a contrast with British shows 

and fairs, where one is constantly tripping over dogs and their 

leashes; but here the "Dog and Country" clothing brand is a thing

Street scene

Scary seed planting device

Ag and pastoral heavy drone; can be used for bombing/strafing wabbits

Hobbyist shop...all the models were of tractors and combines and such

Salt lick

Nice grill/fireplace

Among several kiddie areas

Kiddie zorbs

What? your farm/ranch doesn't have a Maserati?

For pasta and tomato farms; goes with the Maserati

About every fifth shop was selling/exhibiting merino things; I'll 
spare you the others

NZ survival packs...what? no bear spray?!

Beef wrap samples; we have noses for the free samples

Loved ones' hands and feet casted...not just baby shoes...

At the Mismatched Shoes store

Wondering now whether there is an all black tartan

Abundant metal sculpture, mobiles

Rent a beehive...another business opportunity...NZ's most famous
citizen, Sir Edmund Hillary, was a beekeeper; here you can follow
in his footsteps, without getting stung

The first of many wineries and distilleries, which I personally
checked out in detail

Good on 'em; NZ, and particularly the South 
Island, need way more rhodos

They can't call it "scotch" but the several I tasted would have

been impressive Islays

Parlous Passage From Rob Roy

It rained a bit on our Rob Roy hike, and it was raining as we finished it. With even more rain forecast for the evening, we resolved to not spend the night at Raspberry Creek, as in previous years, but to head back toward Wanaka, at least getting past the 6-8 (?) fords and those stretches of the road above the river that I had thought most prone to slips. On the way back out, all the fords were running deeper than on our inbound passage, and the rain steadily increased. After crossing what Vicki recollected to be the last of the fords, we settled in a carpark just passed it, on what I judged to be high and firm ground. (Hey, I know what gabion cages are...). After seven hours on the trail and the stress of the fords, and the road, we pretty much crashed, but only to listen to the rain pelting our fiberglass roof through the night. We were up by 5:45AM, but had to wait another hour or more for first light to reach us deep in the canyon.

Raspberry Creek valley as we left

Next morning, from the carpark; the river has gone from braids
in the big gravel bank to a serous gusher

And the ford is now a couple feet deep, more than I would hazard
in Le Truc Vert (we once had a very bad experience crossing a ford
at Confederate Gulch in Montana); and Vicki is now concerned that
this may not in fact be the last of the fords...

The meteo does not look good...and, most ominously, there has been
no traffic coming in from Wanaka nor out from Raspberry Creek...
(increasingly tense background music...)

But it was the last of the fords, the road straightened out, and the
skies began to clear...yet, there were ever more impediments and
challenges before us

Bovine action scene

Ovine action scene

One of the really good things about New Zealand is that they keep
all the deer behind 8 foot fences; unlike the several I and my truck
accounted for in Montana

All the rocks stayed behind the fences as well...and we made it
back to the holiday park in Wanaka in fine if somewhat weary form

Rob Roy, 2023

Partly to prove we could still do it, partly for old times' sake, partly because it's one of the world's great day hikes, and partly because we love it, we did the Rob Roy Glacier Track yet again, fourth time, on March 7th. I can't say we did it in record time nor that it wasn't any more tiring than before, but we did love it just as much as on earlier occasions and are still as pleased as ever to have done it. Again. Search "Rob Roy" in the search box for previous posts. All that said, here are a few more pix.

Very helpful larger map later found on a wall of the General Store
in Glenorchy...click to enlarge

Rob Roy detail of the above trail #14, following the Rob Roy Stream

View of the mountain from the trailhead

Best "Don't Feed the Kea" sign ever, so far; by
artist Simon Max Bannister; we actually saw four
kea in flight, close by, at the upper lookout, but
I couldn't get the camera going in time...

At the starting line, already a km or two from the carpark;
pay no attention to the DOC "times" (which were established
by NZ marathon champion Hamish McMiles); they are
one-way; we were seven hours on the trail this time

Up the canyon

Stopping in the "no stopping" zone under
the great overhang 

View from the lower lookout (raining)

Approaching the upper lookout

Left (closest) side of Rob Roy

Panorama; it looks far away, but, really, it's in you face and coming right at you...

Favorite geological interpretive sign, still there!

More waterfalls than you can count

Up closer of a snout; serac city

Us, there, 2023

Great free fall, hundreds of feet

Parthian shot

New steps, for trail repair and erosion control;
104 of them, she counted, switching back and forth 

Typical South Island beech/fern forest

Walking sticks lending library 

Back in the valley, happy to be done, happy to have

done it