Wanaka is a small resort town about 1.5 hour away from Queenstown. The peaceful town lies on the southern tip of lake Wanaka. We added this town to our itinerary en route from Queenstown to Mount cook. Its also the gateway to Mount Aspiring national park.
We decided to spend 2 nights in this idyllic village on our trip to New Zealand.
How to reach: There are 2 driving routes from Queenstown to Wanaka – Glenorchy drive and Crown range road. We drove via crowne range road as this is an alpine route plus more scenic. Crowne range road reaches an altitude of 1121 mts and covered in snow during winter. This fantastic mountain road between the two most beautiful towns of South island is absolutely fun. There are many twists and turns and hairpin bends before you arrive Wanaka. The drive which would normally take over an hour got stretched to 2 hours due to the number of stops that we took.
Wanaka offers many activities from Helicopter tours, hiking, musuems, boating etc. Here is a description of a few things that we did in Wanaka.
1. Lake Wanaka
The original māori name Onaka means “The place of Anaka’, a local tribal chief. It lies in South island of New Zealand. Its a beautiful lake to just spend some time. We spent some kayaking on the lake.
2. Puzzling world Wanaka
Puzzling world as the name suggests is a must do place for puzzle lovers.There are all sorts of optical illusion rooms and other mind boggling stuff in this tilted house. This also the home to the leaning tower of Wanaka – a tower that is leaning at an angle of 53 degrees.. It balances incredibly on just one corner. The four of us were trying our best to make sure it didn’t fall to the ground. LOL
3. Mount iron trek
This was the best thing I liked in Wanaka. I am a walking person and this trail gives superb views of Wanaka. The trailhead is just a few minutes away from puzzling world. After visiting the puzzling world we went for the trek while the others went to see the warbirds and wheels museum. if you are a car enthusiast you can visit the museum to look at classic car models and fighter aircrafts.
Also read: Mount Iron trek Wanaka
4. Lake Hāwea
This is another picturesque lake about 15 min drive from Wanaka. Hawea is more tranquil than Wanaka and we just drove around and visited the viewpoints en route. The scenery is great to just laze around and soak in the views.
Queenstown is the first preference in South island but if you are similar to me who likes to explore smaller places then this should be on your itinerary.