Wanaka
Introduction -- Accommodation -- Restaurants/Cafes -- Activities

Lake Wanaka
Lake Wanaka


Northern gateway to the Southern Lakes District and the Mt Aspiring National Park, the attractive town of Wanaka sits beside the lake, just off SH6.  Smaller and more peaceful than its southern neighbour Queenstown, Wanaka is nonetheless bursting with year-round adventure activities, including skiing, ski boarding, jet boating, canyoning, rock climbing, sky diving, horse trekking, tramping and quad biking.  In winter, the nearby Treble Cone, Cardrona, Snow Farm and Snow Park ski fields offer a gamut of ski disciplines, from family ski runs to cross-country and freestyler’s resorts, and for the more adventurous, there are back-country heli-skiing and heli-boarding tours.  During the summer, day-walkers explore idyllic spots such as the beautiful Blue Pools of Haast, the Rob Roy Glacier, and the Matukituki Valley, and the pristine waters of the lakes and rivers here draw anglers who come to pursue rainbow and brown trout.   Mountain bikers love it here too.  5 minutes from town, there are tracks for all riding levels at Sticky Forest, plus there is excellent trail riding on both sides of the lake.  When you’ve explored the outdoors, Wanaka has plenty of other attractions for visitors to enjoy.  A visit to Stuart Landsborough’s Puzzling World or a game of golfcross on the 9-hole course at Rippon Vineyard will bring out the child in you, and there is a treat in store for movie-goers at Cinema Paradiso.  Arts and Music take centre stage during local festivals such as the biennial Music Festival (Waitangi Weekend, February), Sculpture in Central Otago, (February to May), and the biennial Southern Lakes Festival of Colour, (late April/early May).  Wanaka’s icon event, though, is the biennial Warbirds over Wanaka, when an estimated 80,000 people flock to watch the aerial extravaganza on Easter Weekend.

 

THE ROAD TO WANAKA
When SH6 reaches the Haast River, it climbs inland to the spectacular Haast Pass, where sheer rock-faces and the massive peaks above often lay shrouded in mystery.  This stretch of road, which leads from the West Coast at Haast inland to Lake Wanaka, can be very challenging, best driven when you are well rested.  It passes through the northern perimeter of the Mt Aspiring National Park, the setting for the Isengard scenes from The Lord of the Rings trilogy.  The dramatic, towering cliffs recede as the road greets the shoreline of Lake Wanaka, where it cuts a track along the hillside high above the lake.  Vistas across the lake to the mountains beyond beg for passing motorists to stop and admire, and it’s in spotz like these we love to pull out the thermos and camping chairs, to sit, relax, and enjoy our surroundings.

Lake Hawea on the road to Wanaka from the West CoastLake Hawea on the road to Wanaka from the West Coast

Wanaka Lakefront
Wanaka lakefront


Mount Aspiring National Park