We left rainy Franz Josef on Thursday to continue our journey down the west coast and onto Wanaka. This drive down state highway 6 was absolutely stunning and by far the most enjoyable journey yet in terms of scenery – it just got better and better as we neared our destination.
We were treated to snow topped alps, stunning hills and beautiful blue lakes. It really was incredible to be driving through these landscapes… we found ourselves pulling over on several occasions to soak in the views and get some shots.
As we reached Wanaka, the rain had thankfully cleared and the sun was finally shining once again. Immediately, we were bowled over by the beauty of Wanaka as it sat beside the lake from which it takes its name. The shops and bars all looked so nice – the whole area in general was clearly very well looked after. To add to this, the town is completely surrounded by genuinely breathtaking scenery. The beautiful lake, hills and snow topped mountains all combined to form the perfect scene.
It wasn’t long until we were both declaring Wanaka our favourite place so far. It’s difficult as we’ve been to some unbelievably nice places such as the bay of Islands, Taupo and Abel Tasman among others, but there was something about Wanaka that obviously pushed the right buttons for me and Hannah. We subsequently decided to extend our stay from 2 nights to 3.
To add to this, the holiday park we stayed at (Aspiring Campervan Holiday Park) was also our favourite so far, with a very homely lounge complete with free wifi and free use of the hot tub!
Anyway, on our first night in Wanaka, we headed to the cinema – but this was not just any old cinema. The Paradiso cinema is a very unique and quirky place, with a small theatre room made up of sofas, aeroplane seats and comfy old-fashioned cinema seats – oh and even an old style car at the front! There was also an intermission at which point we could purchase the amazing freshly baked cookies and homemade ice cream. The whole thing was totally awesome.
The next day we went to another of Wanaka’s more famous attractions; Puzzling World. This was… interesting. There are two sections to this place, one of which is the ‘illusion rooms’, which is basically full of weird and wonderful things that seem to defy logic. The second part was fun but frustrating at the same time – a wooden, two-story maze – apparently the first modern style maze in the world. Definitely harder than it looks and we certainly covered some ground that afternoon, but this only heightened the satisfaction when we finally found the finish!
Puzzling World is also home to another iconic landmark – the leaning tower of Wanaka! Of course, this is the place to go if you want to see hoards of people looking daft in trying to be clever with the perspective. We had a go, but failed pretty miserably…
For the rest of the day, we just explored the town and the lakefront under the sun. It really is just a nice place to stroll around doing nothing much other than admiring the surroundings. If we were to ever return to New Zealand later in life, I think Wanaka might just top the list.
The following day we decided to take on a walk up one of the nearby hills; Mt Iron, just a couple of minutes outside of the town centre and directly opposite Puzzling World. It was steep but only a 90 minute loop so not too demanding. The views from the summit were more than worth the effort though – 360 degree, panoramic views over the town, the lakes, the hills and the snow topped alps from Mt Aspiring National Park in the distance. Just brilliant.
Again, we absolutely loved Wanaka – and it’s only an hour away from Queenstown (our final destination), so we will hopefully be able to go back for a night or two before we fly home.
For now though, it’s back up north a couple of hours to Lake Tekapo before going down the east coast, eventually working our way around to Queenstown.