[update: added two panoramas]
Spent the night at Makaroniko up the lake from Wanaka. We were a bit surprised in the morning to see a small plane land on the other side of the road. They were carrying tourists on short flights around the region.
We drove on to the Mount Aspiring area for several hikes. The first walk was in a fern forest at Cameron Flat that lead to an overlook of a river.
We found this weird fungus on the way. Sharon’s been buying field reference guides to local flora and fauna, and every time we get back to the campervan following some exploration she dives into her books to try to figure out what in blazes we just saw.
We went up a long gravely path to the top of Haast overlook. It was quite steep and we were feeling rather bold and adventurous for doing this climb, until we were passed by an older couple and then a man carrying a baby. Germans, of course. Ha! We are losers. Well, anyway we made it to the top.
Next was Fantail falls where a partially dried out river bed has been taken over by crafty travellers. There are stacks of rocks all over the rocky bed which is next to the river which is right across from the falls. We made a few stacks and went on.
Haast? The actual town of Haast is a bit Cromwellian (read: weirdly plastic and dull). From there we drove out to Jackson Bay.
On our way to the glacier area we took a longish walk to a beach that (supposedly) had crested penguins. We were there around 5pm and they don’t come ashore until later so we didn’t see any, but we had a lovely walk through 
a dense lush fern forest on the way. It had a long suspension bridge over a roaring river and really good trails. We encountered a fearless fantail bird that was catching bugs we were stirring up. Here’s Chris next to a giant fern frond.