21/02/2023 Wanaka

What to expect

1 Wanaka

Wanaka

Wānaka is found in the Otago region of the South Island of New Zealand. Surrounded by the mountains of the Southern Alps, Wānaka rests at the southern end of the lake for which it is named. Mt. Aspiring National Park and the surrounding landscape provide endless adventures – it’s what brings people back to this place again and again.”
lakewanaka.co.nz

Eat at “Big Fig”

When we arrived in Wanaka we grabbed some to-go dinner from “Big Fig” and sat down at Lake Wanaka where we enjoyed our food and sunset.

Watch a movie in “Paradiso”

In the evening we watched Avatar in Wanaka’s movie theatre called “Paradiso”. It was such a quaint little theatre and the movie rooms even had couches! You felt like being in someone’s living room, only with a much bigger screen! What got me almost as excited as watching the movie from a comfy couch was the break in between, since they served big warm cookies in the break!

We absolutely loved the experience and after being on the road for so long, it felt really nice doing something “normal” again like going to the movies. (Granted, I haven’t been to the movies in over three years, so maybe it wasn’t my usual type of normal, but you get what I mean😉.)

Stargaze without any light pollution

Afterwards we drove to a car park by the lake about ten minutes out of town, where we fell asleep to a million stars above us without any light pollution.

22/02/2023 Wanaka

Too early

Blake woke me up at 6 a.m.! In my tired state of mind I did see a beautiful sunrise over the lake. However, this was not the reason why Blake had woken me up this early.

It was another one of those “game days” for Blake (I’m losing track, but I think it was soccer). This is why we drove back to town at 6.15 a.m. where Blake dropped me off at the petrol station, while he sat outside the visitor centre to use their wifi in order to watch the game. This does sound really bad, but the petrol station actually had a shower next door, which I could use for NZD $5.

Shower and coffee – that’s all it takes

Once I felt human again, I walked to the café “Federal Diner”, for a flat white, a date scone and some me-time. It’s the small things on the road that can make me so happy.

Laundry day

Once Blake’s game was over, we did some laundry in a laundromat. Oh how we miss those times in South America, where we could just bring our laundry bag to a laundry service and pick it up the next day again totally clean, dry and folded.

Relax at Lake Wanaka

The sun was out, so we relaxed at the lake for a bit, which felt amazing.

Time to plan stuff – the German in me is happy

Later on, sunshine turned into a lot of rain. Of course that’s never good when you’re travelling in a van. But since we’ve been on the South Island and escaped the flooding on the North Island, we’ve been blessed with sunshine non-stop, so no complain at all! Furthermore, we could make use of this rainy day for organizing the visa, accommodation and transportation for our next country after New Zealand.

23/02/2023 Wanaka

Hike up Roy’s Peak

After a rainy day, we woke up to sunshine the next morning. This was perfect since we were on a mission today: We were going to hike up Roy’s Peak.

It took us two hours and 40 minutes and a lot of whining on my side to hike up the steep path to Roy’s Peak.

But as always when it’s a tough hike, you get rewarded with spectacular views from the top.

Five hours later we were back at the car park (which had also been our campsite last night).

Eat curry at “Bombay Palace Wanaka“

For Christmas my Mom had given us a voucher for a “romantic dinner”. Since we were staying with friends in Hawaii and stayed in resorts and homestays in Fiji, we thought that today – after a tough and long hike – would be the perfect opportunity to treat ourselves.

We are both huge curry fans. Luckily, we found a great Indian restaurant right at the waterfront of Lake Wanaka. Cheesy naan bread just tastes better when you’ve just done a massive hike😉.

24/02/2023 From Wanaka to Cromwell

See “That Wanaka Tree”

In the morning Blake and I did a walk to the famous “That Wanaka Tree”, which is a single tree that grows on the lake.

It wasn’t until 2014 that it began its journey to fame. […] Dennis Radermacher, a photographer from Christchurch, took a photo of the tree on a misty June day. That photograph went on to win Dennis the 2014 New Zealand Geographic photograph of the year.”
bachcare.co.nz

To be honest, we didn’t find it that special. But I guess some things just get hyped up a little bit too much through social media. And it goes without saying that “of course” we still took a photo with “That Wanaka Tree” 😉.

Do some wine tasting in Cromwell

On the way to Dunedin we stopped in the wine region Cromwell for some wine tasting for the last time in New Zealand.

On this trip Blake has probably done more wine tastings and seen more markets than on all of his other trips combined. He would never admit this, but I’m pretty sure he secretly likes these activities a lot. (Maybe not as much as drinking beer and watching sports, but I’m still working on him 😉.)

A “special deal”

We went to two different vineyards. At Mt. Difficulty we had six different tastings. The vineyard was beautiful. But since it was really busy, the tasting was a little chaotic. It goes without saying that we still ended up buying two bottles of wine. (Also to save the costs of one tasting, this “deal” always gets us.)

More wine

The next tasting took place at “Domain Road Vineyard” with a sweet old lady. Unbelievably, the entire tasting was for free! So we felt like we had no other choice but to buy another bottle here – poor us.

Drive to Dunedin

And then it was time to drive to Dunedin. This place holds such a special place in my heart since I spent one year here as a high school student in 2005 while I stayed with a great host family. It’s hard to believe that this was 18 years ago! This doesn’t make me feel old at all!

Continue reading:

24-27/02/2023 Dunedin and Christchurch

Wanaka, New Zealand

Wanaka

Eat at “Big Fig”

Watch a movie in “Paradiso”