Wanaka, New Zealand Travel Blogs

Feeding the Chicken
Oct 16, 2005 (17 photos)

'Time is it Runtney?' 'What?' "You heard!' Just got back from a short but pleasant break in Wanaka with the Chike. She's been up there for the last few days, having had some free time. It's her birthday on Tuesday, nearly twenty-two whole years ...

A nicer version of Queenstown!
May 13, 2006 (3 photos)

... ). They weren't coming in until 9 so we ate our meal as slowly as possible to see them and when they did arrive we didn't recognise a soul! Drove out of Wanaka and north between Lake Wanaka and Lake Hawea and found a quite spot to spend overnight.

Random(s)
Sep 19, 2006 (27 photos)

... into a series of random encounters... ...Like yesterday. An early start and a full day on the mountain. This time over to Wanaka, to 'Treble Cone'. A word on Treble Cone: 'TC' is the largest ski resort in the South Island and boasts some of ...

Life in Wanaka - Pre Ski Season
May 21, 2004 (15 photos)

... a few friends: ex-cleaners from the campsite (all now retired from the cleaning profession, but most still residing in Wanaka); colleagues from New World; even our cleaning boss who has taken it upon himself to teach us to ski. Besides the usual pub ...

Pit-Stop
Dec 10, 2004 (4 photos)

... . Haast was about as exciting as Baz Vegas but achieves it's purpose well - a much needed rest stop and recharge before heading further South and more inland. So tomorrow we're off to Wanaka, and according to our driver 'Wozza', we're in for a treat!

That Does Impress Us Much
Oct 2, 2004 (3 photos)

... site number 29 for a few more days in our favouritest and most perfectly proportioned and positioned town in all of New Zealand. That afternoon we dined early on burgers cooked outside in the park's sheltered barbie area while rain continued to fall as ...

What New Zealand is all about
Dec 2, 2004 (9 photos)

Nothing much happened today. We had to drive 300 kms to Wananka. Not what you want when your ill. It didn't help that Monique stopped the bus every 5 minutes for Photo stops. I did get some good photo's though!

YES, MORE SNOW!!!
Jun 24, 2006 (22 photos)

... weather and do the dive. To see him in the plane, go to www.skydivenz.com , click on view my picture and go to JUNE 19th. I think hes the first there. It looks so funny! Anyway, now onto the best place in New Zealand, Queenstown!! Jack and Andrew xx

Puzzle Puzzle Puzzle Puzzle Kiwi
Dec 2, 2005 (6 photos)

... Possibly realised he couldn't afford to do anything decent in this country. We carried on up north stopping at Puzzle World in Wanaka. It has some pretty cool stuff. One of those leaning rooms. And a hall of faces and some other impressive illusions. ...

Lunch at Wanaka
Jun 10, 2005 (6 photos)

Left Queenstown at 10am after having the luxury of 2 showers in 2 days. Headed over to Wanaka for a short stop to see Stuart Landsborough's Puzzling World and to have some lunch. We went in the Illusion Rooms first and all the rooms were good but the ...

You.................Arrived in Wanaka!
Dec 14, 2006 (9 photos)

... up at the snow capped mountains which were just so gorgeous. Soo enough, we found ourselves driving alongside Lake Wanaka, the fourth largest lake in New Zealand, wow it is so beautiful here! From Lake Wanaka the road goes inland for a bit and then on ...

Skiing Is Like Making Love To A Beautiful Woman
Sep 22, 2004 (24 photos)

... accurately its outskirts and a couple of interesting sounding semi-museums. Our first stop-off was at Wanaka Airport, an obvious choice for the New Zealand Fighter Pilot's Museum, an interesting (honestly) display of old photos and memoirs that led to a ...

Adrenalin time
Apr 4, 2005 (10 photos)

... the thrill I was expecting. As it was a glorious day we went for a walk up one of the smaller hills surrounding Wanaka before heading off to Glenorchy. To get there you have another stunning drive along the side of Lake Wakatipu with gorgeous craggy ...

Wanaka Gone-aka
Aug 17, 2009 (8 photos)

... the lake it borders, but several things left my experience there wanting. It did, however, signal a new stage in my New Zealand travels. When we first arrived it was 7:30 p.m. and dark, and we started looking for a hostel. A snowboarding festival had just ...

Wanaka
Dec 22, 2004 (2 photos)

... getting soaked and eaten alive by sandflies. Cruised on to Wanaka and pulled up at Wanaka backpackers cool place overlooking Wanaka lake (funnily enough). Great hostel with a big lounge and window overlooking the lake from the top of a steep hill. Cracked ...

Just chilling by the lakes
Feb 13, 2004 (6 photos)

... go to for their holidays, in order to avoid what nearby Queenstown has become (see the next entry for Queenstown...) I arrived in Wanaka in the afternoon, and after getting settled in, set off to explore a little. My plan was to walk out of town a ...

Saar' how you doing?
Dec 27, 2006 (2 photos)

... . Gota to consider the logic of choosing the cheapest option when doing something like a skydive.   Anyway the bus to Wanaka was just a short hop for an hour arriving at the small lake side resort appearing more busy than Queenstown to which it ...

Mooontains mooontains mooontains and other things!
Apr 2, 2005 (38 photos)

... a big hurry but its one of the things that makes NZ so unspoilt. On the way we stopped at Haast, calling in at Wanaka for 10 minutes. The journey from Wanaka was sublime, really beautifull mountains and lakes. At Haast we couldn't even manage to get a ...

Lakes, Mountains & Swing Bridges
Oct 29, 2008 (86 photos)

Today we headed off to a small place called Makarora. On the way we stopped off at Lake Matheson which is also known as the mirror lake. From here you can get a photo of the lake with a perfect reflection of the mountains in it. It was a little windy ...

Wanaka
Apr 12, 2007 (11 photos)

Alex:  As has been typical of our time in New Zealand as soon as we got in the car to move on to the next town the sun came out. Fortunately it gave us another chance to see Mount Cook as we passed through Fox. We stopped once again at Matherson Lake ...

Life in Wanaka - THE SKI SEASON!
Jul 27, 2004 (12 photos)

... . Lucky us! The views from several of the runs are fantastic - snow-capped mountain ridges framing the valleys of Queenstown and Wanaka in either direction. So far our trusty van has been ferrying us, plus ski-buddies Laura and Bob, up the winding, ...

Return Road Trip
Aug 29, 2004 (8 photos)

... mishap! Auckland Back to Auckland, where Auntie Pamela and Uncle Chris welcomed us back into their home for our last week in New Zealand. That was last Friday. By Sunday morning we'd sold our beautiful van for the asking price (more pesos to buy bbq ...

Lakes and puzzles
Mar 30, 2006 (9 photos)

... luckily I was convinced by a friend I'd spent the day with to hop on the shuttle bus to Lake Matheson. The lake is probably New Zealand's most famous view, since on a clear day it is smooth as glass and the mirrored reflections of Mts Tasman and Cook are ...

Kiwis are wild Party Animals
Jan 2, 2008 (3 photos)

After all that hiking we wanted civilization back with cafes, ice cream etc...so Wanaka seemed like the perfect place to heal those sore muscles and drink up for New Years Eve. But who would have known that this little picturesque lake town is the ...

Sand flies
Dec 13, 2003 (2 photos)

Our whirlwind tour of the west coast continues south after a quick stop for a late-afternoon lunch in the town of Franz Josef. We drive a back road a few kilometers for a nice glimpse of Fox Glacier, but we don't stop to walk the lake; my spotty advance ...

Blue Pools and Jet Boats
Dec 11, 2004 (16 photos)

... didn't have too much of a problem. Maybe all these adrenaline activities are starting to pay off? Shortly before arriving in Wanaka we passed through a smaller place called Makarora. Here we had the opportunity to go on a jet boat on the Wilkin river ...

Late arrivals
Jun 3, 2006

Blurb & Video to follow, when we return to Blighty and proper broadband!

Glacier: Mint
Nov 4, 2005 (6 photos)

Haast
Jun 10, 2005 (4 photos)

We carried on from Wanaka, through Mt Aspiring National Park and Haast Pass, and onwards to Haast. This is the main route from Queenstown to get to the West Coast. On the way the road wound up around the mountains and we saw a lot of scenery including ...

Beauty bound.
Jul 4, 2008 (33 photos)

... the river and I fished... again. The next couple of days we spent skiing during the day and enjoying the atmosphere of Wanaka town. The mountain roads had become easier and we weren't  afraid of them as much even though most people talking them were ...