Wanaka

After yesterday’s awesome drive, we walked into town via the lakeside trail. An interesting lane with big, old trees enticed us into a lovely park called Wānaka Station Park.

The land in the park is a piece of Wānaka that existed before Wānaka did. It used to be part of a sheep station that once covered the entire south side of the lake. It is a beautiful, secluded space with a playground for kids and some incredible mature trees. Chris used his I-Naturalist App to identify them - giant sequoias, three immense Douglas firs, Himalayan cedars, large walnut trees, an enormous rhododendron hedge and the station's surviving orchard, with pears and apples that apparently are free for picking.

A trail led to the lake’s edge and we spotted a crooked willow tree in the lake. Nothing spectacular but little did we know that it is said to be one of the most photographed trees in all of New Zealand! It is known as “the lone tree of lake Wanaka”. The tree is famous to the point that it has its own hashtag - #thatwanakatree and a facebook page.

That Wanaka tree started life as a fence post at least 77 years ago. On Instagram people pose naked beside it, have their wedding photographs taken in front of it or meditate beneath it. Can you imagine? It is supposed to symbolize determination. There is a sign in English and Chinese, and a graphic, telling people not to break its branches or climb on it.

Kiwis love their coffee so we had no trouble finding one of many fancy coffee shops with a view of the lake and surroundings. The town, being a tourist town, also has lots of cute little shops selling NZ souvenirs and sports clothing. It was fun just walking around.

On the way home, we noticed a series of tiles on the sidewalk. There were 2,000 World history tiles that lined a sidewalk and covered 650meters on what is known as the Millennium Walkway, The Millennium Path was created by the whole Community. People volunteered to write World, New Zealand and Wanaka History on 2000 tiles representing each year of the Millennium. A very cool idea! Chris and I walked from one end of the walkway to the other reading interesting facts from the years. A few years ago, a plan was written up to redo the sidewalk and get rid of the tiles and the whole town fought to keep them. Good for them!

The lodge that we are in is not big and travellers are friendly people, so it was really easy to socialize and not write footprints...Baca lagi