Wanaka

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Polly:

We decided to take the scenic route to Wanaka, on the Crown Range Road. It started with a steep climb and hair-pin bends revealing a spectacular view back towards Queenstown. The road passed the Cardrona ski field and the Snow Park. Unfortunately, most of the snow had melted and the resorts were closed, but the scenery was stunning.

We were trying to find the “Bra Fence” which we had read about in the Lonely Planet, but it appears that the councillors had won their battle and demolished it since the LP had been published. Apparently the councillors kept removing the bras as they found it distasteful, but this only spurred more women on to remove their underwear and hang them on the fence.

It was Wanaka’s spring festival that day, so when we arrived we had a stroll round the park. There was a local band playing, face painting, food stalls, and the tail end of a children’s skateboarding competition in the skate park.

The sun was shining so we drove to the top of the town and cooked dinner in a lay-by, whilst looking out over the lake and mountains behind. We could see the “Treble Cone” ski field in the distance (30km by road), still covered in plenty of snow. Despite the good conditions, there were no staff left to run the resort so it had shut as per it’s original schedule 2 weeks before.

Still a bit unsure of roadside camping we drove out of town for the night, back up the Crown Range Road for 15 minutes. We found a quiet lay-by next to a field of reindeer and turned in. This was the coldest night so far, I had to put my sleeping bag over my head and face, and when we woke up the windscreen was totally frozen over. As soon as the sun came up it turned into a beautiful day.

We found a campsite in the town and both had long, hot (free!) showers. Once we had cleaned ourselves we realised how much our clothes honked, so we made use of their laundry facilities as well.

As the weather was so nice we went for a walk along the lake front, and then hiked up Mount Iron. It was a 2hr circuit, with great views over lake Wanaka on one side of the Mount and Lake Hawea on the other.

On our way back we stumble across Wanaka’s famous “Cinema Paradiso”. The cinema is full of sofas, armchairs, and even a few old cars to sit in while you watch the movie. We went back that night and watched Batman (The Dark Night), and ate pizza on trays, on our laps. It was a truly original experience.

Wanaka’s a really nice town. Beautiful spot, and so much more chilled out than Queenstown.

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