Wanaka

On previous trips to New Zealand I had skipped Wanaka in favour of spending more time in high adrenaline Queenstown and the superlative Fiordland. This time our itinerary made Wanaka the ideal stopover between Dunedin and the West Coast. The lakeside setting is very pleasant and beautiful even on a cloudy rainy day, although sadly the visibility was too low to see the full splendour of the mountains on the day we visited.

After a leisurely walk around the lake admiring the views we climbed up for about 15 minutes to reach Rippon winery. Not only do the views make the climb worthwhile on its own, the wine tasting was well explained and somewhat unusually included sampling the same wine from different vintages so it was possible to see how a particular wine would mature if cellared.

In the evening we had a choice of a wide variety of eating places but went with the Lonely Planet recommended Red Star burgers. The menu offered an interestingly different selection toppings and the execution, along with Cajun-spiced chips, was perfect.

Our itinerary required us to move on after one night which was a bit sad. Wanaka is a charming and peaceful destination with high quality facilities, good walking easily accessible from the town, and plenty of other activities available—it would have been easy to while away a few leisurely days here.