Wanaka and Surrounds

Wanaka is almost as big an adventure-sport town as its sister - Queenstown.  Wanaka's turquoise is, IMHO, more vibrant, and we aren't so much into crowds, so we skipped Queenstown this time 'round (no offence Queenstown).

The town of Wanaka - in the mountains on beautiful Lake Wanaka

Pretty Lake Wanaka in the late afternoon

Wanaka is on the aptly named Lake Wanaka.  It's nestled in a valley of snow-capped peaks.  The lake-front is great to walk or bike - the water is not as turquoise as, say, Lake Tekapo - but it's nothing to shake a stick at!

There are lots of tour and gear-hire operators down by the lake - you can rent a kayak or... a jet board?!  Yup, a jet board - check this out.  We watched a few dare devils using these.

The town also has a decent public playground for kids - a feature our kids really enjoyed.

The playground at the waterfront

Wanaka is a town for 20-something outdoorsy revellers.  The bar patios are full and the streets are filled with tour operator vans.  There's a bike rack on every 5th vehicle with a pair of kickin' mountain bikes... in other words, it's an exciting place to be :)

Waterfront...

The lake itself is bordered by parking and some beautiful trees.

A blustery, cloudy day

Beautiful in the sunshine

There's a temporariness to the town of Wanaka - perhaps it's the contribution of transient 20-somethings.  In any case - a nice spot to visit and play in.

The Paradiso Theatre

Unfortunately, the weather didn't cooperate with us much - on a mega trip, everyone needs to be heard - the kids spoke loud and clear on the rainiest of our days in Wanaka :)

They wanted to hit the super-cool Paradiso movie theatre , so we did!  This theatre had an amazing atmosphere - totally home-grown and relaxed.  The theatre concession options include real meals  and home-baked cookies served hot out of the oven at intermission - yup, intermission.  You pre-order your cookies.

The Paradiso theatre

Adults can indulge in a barista-style latte or cappuccino served in a real mug with a real saucer.  The walls are plastered with posters of truly great films - not just the most recent stuff to fall off the Hollywood assembly line - from classics to today.

The menu and the proprietor preparing our teas

Seating in the theatre room is an eclectic mix of hollowed-out old cars, old theatre row chairs and actual lounging sofas - like at home - 3 seaters.  Kids dance to the background music at intermission and the place gets filled with cheery laughter and chatter.  VERY COOL.

Checkout the cup-n-saucer... and the car in the UL corner... and the couch in the back left... and the pillows on our seats - FUN!

We watched Frozen 2 - kids' choice.

Iron Mountain

There are a few walks in town - Iron Mountian is one of them.  It offers great views of the Wanaka valley.  They claim it to be a 1.5hr in and out... it took us quite a bit less.  The word 'mountain' is used loosely here - more of a 'hill'.  We saw a hanful of joggers tackling it at a good clip, so not such a big 'mountain' :)

These are everywhere in NZ - they keep sheep in and let people through

The view from Iron Mountain

Kids wanted a flying shot :)

This little walk is a great way to checkout the area from above.

The Clay Cliffs

On our way out of Wanaka, we hit the clay cliffs - a quintessential kiwi natural phenomenon.  Quintessential because it's understated and yet wonderful - in North America, it would have been commercialized in the 50's and 60's and would cost $100 for us to 'experience' from a glass-floored platform complete with souvenir shop.

A non-descript entrance leads you into a farm field with an 'honesty box' to collect a $5 fee and a sign that says 'please close the gate after you drive through'.

View from inside the cliffs - in North America, these would be called canyons

The laneway gives way to a makeshift parking lot.  From there, a short walk takes you to a set of hoodoo cliffs that, in true kiwi style, you are free to truly explore.  You can climb around without the hinderance of gates, fences, signs or any other form of spoon-feeding or nannying.  If you get hurt, well then you shouldn't have done that, plain and simple - my kinda place.

Clamouring around the gulleys and spires

Tall canyons, cool aggregate hoodoos

Tight cracks

On our way out...

Looking back at the cliffs/canyons

Looking into the valley below

This modest-but-amazing attraction is definitely worth a stop off of HWY 8 between Wanaka and Oamaru.

Driving to Oamaru

Next up - Oamaru - the steam punk capital of NZ.  Our aim was to hang out for a while over the holidays.  Steam Punk you say - what's that, right?  Patience - there's more to come about Oamaru - stay tuned!

Just another stunning NZ drive :)

We stopped along the way to checkout a Hydro dam - most of NZ's power is clean, green hydro power.

Yowzers - what a colour!

A small hydro installation on a silty-green river

Elephant Rocks

Once again, NZ did not disappoint with its 'random roadside attractions'.  To keep the drive interesting, we stopped at the Elephant Rocks just outside Oamaru.

See the 'elephant'?  See the kids?

This random outcropping of rocks was a ton of fun to climb and jump off of - the kids ran from rock to rock with sheer joy as they explored the area.  Once again, this is in a farm field ont he side of the road with a non-descript entrance and a complete lack of supervision.  AWESOME!

Demented crocodile?

It was a lot of fun playing 'what do you see in this rock?'.

I kissed a giant seahorse - and I kinda liked it... with Cheryl's consent, of course :)

This 30min stop was a great way to break up a 3.5hr drive!

We also stopped to see a whale fossil bed in another farmer's field because Parker is really into fossils, precious rocks and other collectibles...

The fossil was pretty modest - not quite worthy of a blog entry, but Parker liked it :)

Oamaru

Lookout for a separate post on Oamaru... but I had to share this shot here.

Our hosts in Oamaru prepared us a lovely welcome gift... and...

P & K in Motueka made our day by having some lovely Christmas baking and a thoughtful card in the mail for us upon arrival!  AWESOME!!!