Wanaka & Queenstown

We drove for 4 hours over the beautiful and scenic Haast Pass to Wanaka. Wanaka is a beautiful ski town located on Lake Wanaka. For you Canadians out there Wanaka and Queenstown are similar to Canmore and Banff respectively. Wanaka is the place that the locals go, it has great views, amazing restaurants and a lively atmosphere without being the tourist trap you would expect. For those of you who know Neal and I well; we love Canmore and therefore loved Wanaka. We camped there with lake views out of our back window for 3 nights. We were within walking distance to the main part of town and since it rained most of our days there we spent time enjoying the cafes, restaurants and Pubs.

We hiked up Mount Iron for a 360degree view of Wanaka town, the lakes Wanaka & Hawea and the mountain ranges surrounding us. We then had lunch at ‘The Cow’ and had an amazing pizza in this cute, rustic and old fashioned cottage hidden down an alley way. The food was great in Wanaka especially when we had our Indian fix at ‘The Spice room’ that was incredible. The flavours were delectable and they had so many different types of Nann bread, yummy! 

On Friday we noticed that the Diesel heater in the camper van kept shutting off after 20 minutes, we called Wilderness and went to see a mechanic. We were told that the motor had died in the heater and we couldn’t get a new part until Monday. Thankfully, we had powered sites and were able to use a space heater instead. We had the part sent to Queenstown and headed on our way there on Saturday.

We drove through the Cardrona Valley on the Crown Range Highway since the roads were good. That is one windy and steep road but again keeping with the New Zealand theme, it was stunning. Queenstown is also a beautiful town that is situated on Lake Wakatipu. It is much more built up than Wanaka and screams tourist trap but I do have to give it credit, it’s why so many people also stop in Banff every year! There are so many shops, hotels/hostels, restaurants and adventure companies that really like to take your money and being the typical tourists we handed it over. We stayed at the Top 10 Holiday Park just on the outside of the centre of town. We were able to walk everywhere which was helpful. Since we arrived Saturday it was packed with Skiers and tourists like us; we walked around exploring the town, we even got to watch a live rugby game there. Since we were so impressed with the pizza in Wanaka, we went to ‘The Cow’ in Queenstown to try their Spaghetti for a comfort dinner. We were not disappointed and most of you know how much we love spaghetti. We followed up our yummy dinner at ‘Pog Mahones’ and heard an amazing band play. They did mostly covers of Kings of Leon, Foo Fighters and Red Hot Chili Peppers, they were incredible. After several pints at the pub we made our way home with a few stops to quench our thirst along the way at the ‘Naughty Penguin’ and a night club. We made sure we stopped by to get our McDonald’s fix and were warned a fight had just broken out. Things apparently get serious when you’re 18 and someone tries to steal those Chicken McNuggets at 2am!! 

Sunday we hiked Ben Lomond Mountain which ended up being a muddy, steep and exhausting hike to do after a night of drinking. A Gondola also happens to go to the top of the mountain; needless to say we took it down after enjoying the beautiful views from the top.  We took it pretty easy Sunday night, no news to report. 

Monday morning we dropped off our camper van to have the diesel heater replaced and made our way to the infamous AJ Hackett Bungee. Neal and I decided to do the Nevis Bungee Swing since my knees are all messed up and I’m not allowed to Bungee jump. The Nevis Swing was incredible, I was not prepared for the 70m free fall you have before the “World’s Highest Swing” comes into effect, what an adrenaline rush! We have some photos and a video for you to enjoy!! The guy that gets to press the button that releases you has the BEST JOB EVER!! After our adventurous afternoon we ate some ‘FergBurger’ which we lucked out in sneaking in before the huge lines started up. We had our grease fix and picked up our camper van. We tested out our new heater and are headed to Te Anau to check out the Milford Sound. Stay Tuned!!!

All the Best!!

Laura