Whenever you plan to retire, move to Wanaka.

It’s such a quaint little ski town.

Fall has made its mark on the South Island, yellowing leaves a sign of the impending chill that will (and already has) ruined me.

(Read: yes, I caught a cold. Yes, it sucks.)

But while Wanaka is not known as one that owns a glacier or is an adventure city or, honestly, is one I even knew about before embarking on this trip – eating a four dollar ice cream come on the beach was a nice break.

Actually any beach is a nice break.

(Earlier we stopped by one on the way. I have no idea what its name was or if it was a sea or ocean, but I will remember how we all charged towards the crashing waves and smiled and laughed – because the sun was out and it was almost like summer and oh thank goodness we could get off the bus for a bit.)

(We also had a chilly but cool morning hike at Lake Matheson. The reflection off of it was beautiful.)

Sadly, a handful of us weren’t told about a cool hike we could’ve taken and missed out on what, our friends dubbed, an amazing sunset.

But it’s OK.

We made a great pasta for dinner (finally with some ground beef and Parmesan cheese)!

(Yes, Mom: I’m learning to cook.)