New Zealand - Day 15 & 16 - Wanaka

It wasn’t too bad of a drive to Wanaka from Queenstown – we avoided the scenic mountain route directly through the ranges in favour of the less direct but mildly straighter road via another patch of wine country. We had already singled out one cellar door at Mount Difficulty to go and do a tasting en route to break up the journey – plus the weather outside was pretty miserable!

Rocking Lake Wanaka

It was only about 10km from the highway but the scenery changed completely as we drove in and looked stunning – with the cellar door and restaurant perched on top of a hill overlooking the valley, vines and river below. Their wines were pretty tasty, and the woman doing the tasting was hilarious and easy to chat to once a large tour group of really pretentious toffs who really looked down their noses at us (often the case when you hit wineries with us and my hobo beard!) had gone. We picked up a bottle of pinot noir which I loved (Lisa was less keen, but it was my turn to pick), and after all we were in Central Otago and the region is famous for them so it felt rude not too!

After the tasting we both felt a bit tipsy – so decided to have lunch and a break in the van – in their car park (which amused us as there were people having $50 main courses and $70 bottles of wine with their lunch inside), and the weather rolled in over the hills and got pretty bad so we didn’t mind not moving too quickly!

With Cooksey suitably taken by the mixture of wine and painkillers, plus a hearty sandwich I tackled the rest of the drive solo and we rolled into a windy and rainy Wanaka around 3pm, and headed directly for the Aspiring Holiday Park. We were reassured by the receptionist that the weather was improving tomorrow so didn’t really plan on doing anything – they had free wifi, and free spas and a sauna which was rather appealing as the rain lashed down and the wind took branches off the tree next to us!

Clear day on the Lake

That evening we decided to venture out to the Paradiso Cinema – which all of our friends that’d been to Wanaka previously recommended. It’s a weird little place – only around 50 or so seats which are mostly old sofas and armchairs, there is even a classic convertible car down the front you can sit in! They also serve beer – we went for the local Wanaka Beerworks ale and porter which went amazingly well with their freshly baked GIANT cookies. Unfortunately the movie itself was forgettable, but we had fun nonetheless.

It was midnight by the time we rolled out – and FREEZING cold, so we headed back to the park for some much needed sleep! 

The next day, we took it easy as we didn’t have to roll out before 10am for a change. We had a leisurely breakfast and took care of some laundry before heading into Wanaka town centre to check it out. It was a fairly standard holiday spot with bars, cafes and trinket shops dotted around – we went for a coffee and hot chocolate at a cool Italian place where they wore funny hats, I wouldn’t let Cooksey have any churros as we are concerned about her becoming a fatpacker.

At 2pm we were booked in for a brewery tour at Wanaka Beerworks, which I was rather excited about. We arrived early (for a change) so checked out the Toy Museum next door. It was amazing – they had a massive collection of classic cars, bikes and toy paraphanalia as far as the eye could see. Lisa got a bit too excited about the original Sylvanian Families on sale in the shop and I played with a wooden Thomas the Tank Engline set until it was time to head for the beer!

Amazing beers!

As we walked back in we were immediately greeted by a naked toddler running amok in the bar area – the offspring of the owners. There was only one other guy on the tour, he was European and didn’t say much so we tried our best to ignore him. The ‘tour’ consisted of a brief run-down on the brewing process (as they all do) but we got to taste the barley which was unusual (like muesli!).

The brewery itself is pretty tiny – all contained in three rooms, with a maximum production run on each brew of 750L, so it was actually really interesting seeing how you do it on a smaller budget – with just three people and no mass-brewing experience. Once we’d seen the interior workings it was tasting time and they were DELICIOUS. Really unusual flavours (they use star anise, cardamom and other random spices) and they also gave us a plate of cheese which is always the best way to taste beers. We picked up a six pack of their seasonal offerings and headed back into town.

One thing about their beers though is that they are all at least 6% - with a couple of them topping 10% so Lisa was instantly hammered, and fell asleep almost immediately so we didn’t really do anything else that afternoon – or evening as we were both enjoying our lazy day.

The next morning we were planning on an early start as it was likely to involve a bit of a drive…