Wanaka

We continue our journey south after leaving the Franz Josef Glacier area and then start heading towards the middle of the island.  We start to see different kinds of beautiful scenery, with snow-capped mountains in the background.  Instead of ocean and coastline, we see pastures, valleys, rivers, waterfalls, lakes and forests.  The variety is amazing and you never get bored with the greenery, water, snow on top of the mountains, animals on the farms, etc.  In order to get to Wanaka, we had to pass through Haast Pass, then through two big beautiful lakes, Wanaka and Hawea.  The two itself is next to Lake Wanaka; its setting couldn't have been more beautiful.  The mountains here are simply majestic.  It reminds me of the mountains in Switzerland and Norway.

The town itself is very small, population about 5,000.  It's a tourist town but not as well-known or touristy as Queenstown, our next stop.  Travelers come here for the peace and quiet and enjoy the abundant recreational activites here:  tramping (hiking), skiing, river-rafting, kayaking, mountaineering, rock-climbing, skydiving, fishing, etc.  Many of the activities are around the beautiful Mt Aspiring National Park area.  We spent 1 night here but with the short time that we had, we were able to just walk around the lake and town.

Pastures

Running River

Valley

Lake

Wanaka with lake and mountain in background