After a long run of pretty rubbish summer weather, things finally started to clear up towards the end of January. We decided to make the most of the break in the weather to head up into the mountains to do a little hiking.
We ended up leaving Christchurch early in the morning, which is quite unusual for us and allowed us time to stop along the way. We took the slightly more scenic route through the Waitaki Valley and after calling in for morning tea and cake at one of our favourite restaurants we stopped at Lake Aviemore to walk them off!
Lake Aviemore is one of the chain of three man-made lakes that form part of the Waitaki hydroelectric scheme and is downstream from Lake Benmore where we had previously hiked. We found a short track that clung to the sides of the flooded canyon.
The dry hills with lush trees in the valley bottoms reminded us of many of the Cottonwood-lined canyons in Colorado. Although it was just a short track it was a great way to break up the journey and see some different scenery.