Wanaka, Otago, New Zealand

Visiting Wanaka was another one of those ‘must-sees’ in the South Island. Primarily as I had heard a lot about it from my parents, my aunt who goes there to ski and colleagues at work.

The last time I was there, back in June it was quite brief so I was quite excited about spending more time seeing it properly and being there in good weather.

The drive from Te Anau took approximately 3 hours, give or take with some stops thrown in. The scenery along the drive is pretty amazing. We stopped along the way in some places, and I could have sat and marvelled at it all day.

Coming into Queenstown on State Highway 6

With my dad and sister along SH6 towards Queenstown

I’ve very much got into the jumping photos. This was taken along SH6 towards Queenstown

The drive took us through Frankton, on the outskirts of Queenstown, so we took a quick drive into Queenstown, as prior to visiting Queenstown it had been one of my favourite places in the South Island; so good I had visited it about 4 times in the year!

We stopped in a wee pub in Frankton for a bit of a sub-standard pub lunch. My dad didn’t think too much of it. The drive from Frankton to Wanaka took about an hour with stops again along the way.

The long and winding road from Queenstown to Wanaka

We continued to follow the Cardrona Valley Road towards Wanaka, as per the picture above, there were a lot of hills and windy sections to the road, but the scenery was stunning. We came to Cardrona, which is a tiny wee village mainly popular for the ski resort. We almost missed the ski area, as it was so dry, with no snow at all, which is quite strange for this time of year, as normally there is a wee dusting. Though in saying that, the bottom of the South Island had a poor ski season in general.

We stopped off briefly at the Cardrona Hotel, which was established in 1863 and is one of New Zealand’s oldest hotels, and still operating. It looks very old style American, with wooden panels and old lettering.

Slight British influence with an old letterbox

Within the garden of the Cardrona Hotel.

We did the tourist thing and took a lot of photographs, then took a walk around the complex. It is much bigger than I thought from the outside. It has 16 rooms in total, with a nice area to eat and drink. Would be perfect after a day out on the mountain. I’d love to stay there one day, just for the fun of it. I don’t think it is too expensive, approximately $135 for a twin room with breakfast.

After using the toilets and not buying anything (I hate doing this!) we were on our way. Wanaka was very hot .. about 27 degrees. Rather than paying up to $500 for two nights in a hotel/motel I was able to stay at a bach of a Colleague at work. We paid a total of $240 for the 2 nights, and that included laundry and a cleaner after we left, bargain! Bach was totally the wrong word for it. It was a house! A gorgeous two storey home, with 4 bedrooms, a massive open plan living and dinning area with an amazing space outside overlooking Mt Aspiring. I was sold on it, and could easily move in.

The lounge area

View from the Balcony



The ‘bach’

After unpacking, we headed into town for a bit of a wander. I was surprised at how small Wanaka was. I thought Queenstown was small, but Wanaka is much smaller. Despite this I was in love. There was such a nice relaxed vibe, with cute git shops and cafes. A far cry from pumpin’ Queenstown. We picked up some food for dinner from the New World supermarket, and then headed on a drive a little bit out of Wanaka to Mount Aspiring National Park to have a look at the Mountain and Glaciers. Again, a stunning area.

Mount Aspiring with quite a dusting of snow!

Treble Cone Ski area, another popular ski field. Looking very dry and bare in Summer.

Just before dinner we decided to have a a wander around town, and came across an amazing ice cream parlour called Geleto, quite expensive but amazing homemade ice cream.

We sat out by the Lake – New Zealand’s 4th largest Lake; it is beautiful.

On our second full day in Wanaka, we got up fairly early to go on a Jet Boat ride around the lake. We were the only three people on the boat, so it felt very personal. It was much less racey than the experience I had at the Huka Falls jet boat in Taupo last year.

The boat ride went along the lake and up the Clutha river. It lasted for just over an hour, and cost about $109. Not content with not giving me a good soaking throughout the trip, the driver did a massive 360 spin at the end as we were coming into dock and I was soaked through. Luckily it was warm enough to dry off pretty quickly.

Later we hired bikes from a company called racers edge for $60 or 3 bikes or half a day, which was better than what the isite was hiring them out for ($30 an hour per bike) – I did a bit of Bargaining and we were off on a ride around the Lake.

We were only out for a few hours and were totally shattered. So the rest of our afternoon was spent wandering around shops picking up some last minute Christmas presents, as well as spending a bit of time in the one and only Irish Bar in Wanaka (everywhere has one!)

Part of the main street in Wanaka

We had dinner at our bach on our last night in Wanaka before heading out. It was about 30 degrees by 5pm still and I was sat listening to Christmas music, wrapping Christmas presents. A very different feeling.

After dinner, we drove to the other side of Wanaka to Lake Hawea. It was such a stunning evening, the lake was so still. I will be returning to this area for sure.

Lake Hawea

The rest of our evening was spent hanging about in the main street area stealing free wifi from the Telecom phone boxes. We had no Internet apart from on our phones up to this stage, so were all suffering from withdrawal.

In summary. Amazing time in Wanaka. I would love to reutrn one day, particularly to go snowboarding in winter.