I went to Wanaka from Queenstown. Wanaka is much more relaxed than Queenstown. It has a beautiful lake, vineyards and awesome treks with spectacular views. Here, you can do para-gliding and sky-diving too. In the winter, it is a skiing destination. The one nearest to it is Treble Cone.
I did a few tracks in Wanaka – Roy’s Peak, Rob Roy Glacier and an islet track and an hour track near a park. I also visited the Rippon Vineyard and took a few photographs of the beautiful vineyard. I walk around the lake and took some nice photos of its lake side too and also of the town.
If you’re planning to stay in a hostel, I recommend the YHA. It has a huge spacious lounge, large TV room, pool table and also a large kitchen.
Early in the morning at 7am on my second day there, I checked the ride-share board at the YHA to see if there was anyone planning to drive to Roy’s Peak, so I can hitch a ride and do that trek. Unfortunately, there wasn’t, but a lady approached me and asked if I was going to Roy’s Peak and said she was planning to go there with 6 other girls and a guy don’t mind driving us to Roy’s Peak for $1 each. I was overjoyed. So we drove 15mins to the start of the trek. There’s also a shuttle service but you have to book a day in advance… ($15 to Roy’s Peak and $40 to Rob Roy Glacier)
I took 4 hours to reach the top and 2 hours for the return journey. The trek uphill was really tiring as the slopes were rather steep, and it was 4 hours of climbing uphill… I took many rest stops along the way and sat down on the grass and have some water and snacks…
Here’re some pictures of my track at Roy’s Peak:
I finally finished the trek and my legs were really tired.. I thought I would never be able to finish the return journey. I stood at the entrance of the track and wondered how I am going to return to the YHA… I could walk 2 hours back or I could ask if any fellow trackers could let me ride in their car to town centre. I caught a glimpse of a French guy who has also just finished his track and was just standing beside his car… I was not sure if he would let me ride his car back to town, and I walked towards him unsurely and asked him if I could hitch hike back to town and he kindly allowed, and so I managed to get back to town in 15minutes…
My legs were really tired after this hike, but I want to make good use of time, so I decided that the next day, I would do the Rob Roy Glacier. It’s a 1 hour drive to get to this trek, half an hour of which is through gravel road and have to drive through streams.
So I woke up at 6am and got ready by 7am and went out to the road to try to hitch-hike. It took me 3 trips to finally get to the start of Rob Roy Glacier.
The next day, I went for a walk by the lake. If you face the lake, there’s a trail going left around the lake. And if you follow that trail, you will reach Rippon Vineyard, which is a very pretty vineyard with nice views and you can take nice photos there. They have very nice wine too… I love their white wine… yums~
Don’t forget to go for their free wine-tasting 😀
And then, it was Christmas Day… Travelling alone, I have no one to spend with… So I went to the lakeside and found many people enjoying beside the lake
I really love the YHA in Wanaka, they have a huge spacious lounge, outdoor patio, dining area and kitchen, here’re some photos of this place
That’s all for Wanaka, please do see my other posts on places I have travelled to
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