We left Canberra at 6 a.m. and arrived at Queenstown airport at 4.30 p.m. on the 28th of December 2018.
.jpg)
We had heard so much about Wanaka so we wanted to see the beauty of this town located in the Alpine region of the South Island that New Zealand, one of the most beautiful countries in the world that I have ever visited, has to offer.
We had no plans to stay in Queenstown and drove straight to Wanaka. We wanted to go to Te Anau to visit Fiordland National Park, but we had a tight schedule, so we skipped that and immediately left for Wanaka on our way to Wanaka.
We were heading towards Auckland through this route. We, my coworker Robee, his wife, my wife, and me, had hired a car in advance that was handed over to us at Queenstown airport.
Now, we were driving on this route and as we had already planned that we will drive one hour each so first Robee took the driving seat, and I was sitting next to him with my camera, doing as much photography as I could.
I'm glad we chose Wanaka for its beautiful surroundings, mountains, and the most beautiful lake in the world. I guess we couldn't have chosen a better place than this, although the entire country of New Zealand is stunningly beautiful with its great landscapes, mountains, and lakes, along with its most affordable hotels and restaurants.
We visited a farm close to Wanaka to watch sheep and alpacas. It's a huge park spread over 60 acres. The farm has various other animals too, like sheep, all sizes of goats, bison, and donkeys, but we were interested in alpacas. And they were probably interested in us or the food we served them?
I love the way these alpacas accepted food from us (provided by the farm)
Yes, we did a lot of electric biking in Wanaka. Robee was interested in mountain biking, but that was too much for me, so we settled for electric bikes.
Can you see a tree in the lake? I think every tourist that visits this area takes its photograph. You are right, this tree has the distinction of being the most photographed tree in any country, barring perhaps a banyan tree in my neighborhood in India that I will show you in the coming days.
This tree is famous because it looks like it is growing directly out of Lake Wanaka.
If you look at it closely, it appears as if the tree is floating on the surface of the water. People initially thought it was a miracle, but it is not; it only appears to be so, but it is entirely natural. Sorry, I did a bad job here since I am not a professional photographer.
But is that all? Keep reading.
This is the route that we were supposed to take, but we made some changes according to our own program, and at the same time, we had to keep in mind that we had to return the car at the Christchurch airport at 10 in the morning and take the flight back to Sydney to attend New Year's Eve at the Opera House in Sydney.
We had all heard about New Zealand's skydiving experience in Wanaka, so we had already booked it, even though none of us had previous experience in this extreme sport, and they gave us a quick instruction before getting into the plane.
So we stayed at Wanka overnight and moved to Wanaka Lake in the morning. We came back at about 12, and after having some fill, we proceeded to take a skydive.
I was a little scared, but I was surprised to see my friend's wife was excited, and so was my wife. I have always felt that ladies are a little too happy with such things compared to us males. I could see signs of worry on Rabee's face, although he was smiling and showing no obvious signs of anxiety.
I was nervous all through the skydive, but I saw the rest of them happy when we touched the earth. I felt like it made no sense to jump out of a plane thousands of feet in the air with a guide clinging to you and smiling all the time. I thought maybe he was happier than me. I am sorry we didn't book a camera to show you the pictures, and we all regret that to this day.
On the morning of December 30th, we went electric biking in that area. We did kayaking on the Wanaka Lake and went to the Wanaka Lavender Farm. Robee suggested we go to Rippon Winery for a wine-tasting experience, which was not far off, but we were short on time.
We stayed in Wanaka for two days before moving on to Mount Cook, which is located in New Zealand's southern alps.
Finally we were at Mount Cook
Wow, that's probably the most exciting place in New Zealand that made even me feel amused—a man from the Himalayas who has walked at an altitude of 16k feet.
I was feeling excited while watching the beauty of the mountain range, which was so neat and clean. I was walking carefully because I didn't want to leave a foot mark on the clean path and make it dirty.
Wanaka
Lake Pukaki
Mount Cook
Lake Tekapo
Rakaia Gorge
Christchurch
.png)
So this was our route, and we were in a hurry as we had an official party in Sydney and then the regular light and fireworks show at the Sydney Opera House at Sydney Central.
I hope you enjoyed this trip, I will come up with another trip soon so stay tuned
ᴬˡˡ ᴵᵐᵃᵍᵉˢ ᵇʸ ᶜᵃⁿᵒⁿ ᵉᵒˢ ¹⁵⁰⁰ᵈ
I support wox-helpfund