Pete & Lori's Retirement adventures

We’d heard good things about Wanaka and it didn’t take long to see why people love it. The town sits right at the edge of its lake, surrounded by mountains, and has a relaxed energy that makes you want to stay longer than you planned.

Before we left Twizel, our Wanaka Airbnb hosts Grant and Christina pointed us toward the Clay Cliffs, and it turned out to be one of those tips you’re really glad you took. We drove down a rough gravel road, walked through a narrow slot canyon, and came out into a valley filled with tall sandstone columns that were a complete surprise. The sky was perfectly blue that day and the whole place felt a little surreal. We took a lot of pictures.

After the hike, on the way into Wanaka, we stopped at a berry farm that makes strawberry ice cream right there — fresh, simple, really good. Just down the road was a lavender farm selling honey in more varieties than we knew existed. We bought a jar to bring home and it’s already half gone.

“That Wanaka Tree,” a small tree that’s on all the travel websites, lives up to its reputation. It’s a single willow growing out of the lake, and yes, everyone photographs it, and yes, we did too. The lake was beautiful — bright blue with white sails on the far shore — and we could have stood there for hours. Later that evening we chatted with our AirBnB hosts, Grant and Christina, and heard about their travels and their life in New Zealand, toured their spectacular garden, and by the end of it we felt like old friends.

The next morning it rained, so we did the rainy day activity and chased waterfalls along the Haast Pass. We drove all the way out to Roaring Billy Falls first and then made our way back, stopping at every waterfall along the way. Some were right off the road. Others took a short hike through forest so green and mossy and fern-covered it looked like something from a movie – maybe Valinor from LotR? We came back soaked and happy.

Our second home in Wanaka was a chalet up on a hill with floor to ceiling windows looking straight out over the lake. We had dinner at at a cute French restaurant, Bistro Gentil, which was quietly excellent, and woke up the next morning to the sunrise coming right through those windows. We watched it from bed.

The Rob Roy Glacier hike was the highlight of Wanaka and one of the best days of the whole trip – so far. The trail followed a glacial river through cool shaded forest, climbing steadily — past several avalanche warning signs that reminded us this area is serious business in winter — before opening into a wide meadow after about three hours. We weren’t expecting the wildflowers. The whole meadow was covered in them, bright yellow, with the glacier above and more than a dozen waterfalls coming down the mountainsides all around us. We ate our lunch up there and didn’t want to leave.

The hike back down took another three hours — through sheep and cattle fields on the side of the mountain, across a suspension bridge over the river — and by the time we reached the parking lot we were well and truly done. Six and a half hours total. We slept without any trouble that night.

Next morning we packed up and headed south toward Te Anau and Fiordland. Wanaka was a really good few days.