Wanaka Queenstown and Wine

Road to Wanaka

We were considering staying in Wanaka, but because of the Warbirds over Wanaka festival, we couldn’t find a campsite with space. Instead, we stopped on the way over at the Makarora campervan and caravan park, which has a petrol station and cafe at the front and a campsite at the back.

It’s an ideal place to stop as the road from Glacier Country is neither straight nor flat, so it’s a bit hard on the eyes and the brain. The opportunity to break up the drive, wherever it was, was very welcome.

Across the road from the site is a field of animals, shown in the photo below. I thought they were deer at first, but as soon as you hear them, it quickly dispels you of that notion. These might be Himalayan Tahr, but I’m not sure. They make a hell of a racket, though.

Wanaka

Wanaka is known for skiing and water activities, as well as the bi-annual Warbirds over Wanaka air show. But the attraction that seems to draw most visitors with a camera is ‘That Wanaka Tree’.

The tree started as a fence post made from a willow branch over 80 years ago, which took root and grew into the current tree on a spit on Lake Wanaka. It became famous after a photograph of the tree in misty conditions won Dennis Radermacher the 2014 New Zealand Geographic Photographer of the Year award.

This is Maria’s attempt. I think it is rather good.

I thought this was brilliant – a dog stick library. Presumably, you take on and give one back.

Queenstown

Queenstown is famous for its high-adrenaline action, including AJ Hackett’s bungy jumping company, which started lobbing people off the Kawarau Bridge in 1988.

I didn’t particularly fancy the bungy jump, but I did fancy the look of the Shotover Canyon Swing (look it up—it’s fun). However, firm resistance from Maria dictated a different course of action closer to sea level: the Shotover Jet.

The high-performance jet boats can reach up to 90 km/h (56 mph). I don’t know if this is true for all their drivers, but ours learned his trade in racing cars in the UK. The skills are transferable. They shift those boats around within a hair’s breadth of the canyon walls, then spin around 360 degrees.

After that, we took the gondola to the top of Mount Cavendish. My intention was to descend on the luge.

After some negotiation with Maria, aided by the ticket seller who said that kids over the age of six can ride the luge on their own and that it really isn’t that scary, she agreed to ride it. And that was even after the ticket seller told her she couldn’t share one with me because she would have to be under six years old and under 120cm to do that. So brave.

The campsites here are generally very well equipped. In most of the kitchens, there’s a boiler (white thing on the wall) that dispenses boiling water for hot drinks. Pans, crockery, and utensils are provided. But you need to provide your own outsized yellow rubber gloves.

Arrowtown and Wine

We booked a wine tour with Wine Hopper Tours for the next day. Our guide, Andrew, chatted with us about what we would like to do besides the obvious wine tasting. The four of us (there was only one other couple) agreed to follow his suggestions.

And the first of these suggestions was Arrowtown. Arrowtown was established in 1862 during the Central Otago gold rush when Jack Tewa (Maori Jack) discovered gold in the Arrow River. At its peak, the town had a population of over 7,000 miners. Now, as well as giving insight into the living and working conditions of the miners, it offers tourists a choice of boutiques, galleries, restaurants, and cafes and plenty of opportunity to liberate the contents of their purses.

The wines above are showcased at the Kinross Winery in the Gibbston Valley, which is famous for its Pinot Noir. Kinross sells wines from small producers in the region so that you can mix them up to your liking. We liked all of them.

I have no idea why we didn’t take more photos—it was a glorious day out. Before Andrew took us back to Queenstown, we visited the Brennan winery, which produces some exceptional off-piste wines not produced in large quantities in the Gibbston Valley, such as Gewürztraminer and Tempranillo.

The campsite is worth a mention. Creeksyde is full of funky features all over the site. If you look closely at the campervan on the stick, you might just see a bald-headed doll in the driver’s seat. Why? I have no idea.

That was it for Queenstown – it’s time to go to Fiordland.