I care about sharing!
Just ten years ago, I arrived at Wānaka in a red car, and I had my whole life squeezed in it. At that time, Wānaka was still a sleepy hill town, Instagram wasn’t really a thing, and no one cared about a tree in the lake. I can’t believe I’ve been in Wanaka for ten years. You will feel old when you start remembering for decades.
Going back, I’m blogging full time and can live anywhere. After the lease ended in Wellington, I drove south. Like coolers Wanaka I finally settled here when I arrived in Queenstown. This is a place that is easy to fall in love with. Still yes.
Just like many people settled here, I came for a while and never left. OK, I did move to Lyttelton (Christchurch) In the years of sharing, for love, but I want to forget that. Once the matter was outlined, I ran straight back to the arms of all of Wānaka’s friends. Home.
My feelings about Wānaka have become more complicated over the years, and I still reconcile with them, but still like home to me. Don’t get me wrong; I like it here. But over the past decade, Wānaka has changed a lot, like many resorts around the world, rapidly growing and expanding.
honest? I’m mostly disillusioned with the expenses. The average home price today is about $1.5 million, which changes the mood of the town. I’ve never owned a home before and I really haven’t seen how I can afford my first home. The car that filled me was $175. A bag of groceries costs $100. Lunch is $30. It’s really hard to succeed. Recently, I’m in Melbourne, which is cheaper than Wānaka!
In any case, New Zealand is officially in recession. I also know that’s how things work. Towns grow, especially beautiful towns. As I look back on these ten years, my heart is filled with emotions. While I’m not sure I’ll be here forever, Wanaka is definitely buried under my skin and has become a big part of me.
Here are ten of the many reasons why I fell in love with Wānaka.
1. Epic landscape and thinking landscape
OK, I’m going to tell the truth here. Wanaka might have a million things (it does), but the rest of the total will prevail: it’s very pretty. Like, it doesn’t look really beautiful. That’s why people pay millions of dollars to live here. And why young people live in cars and have the opportunity to spend time here.
You’ve seen it on social media. Wherever you go, you can enjoy beautiful views of the mountains. Just next door to a national park, along the pristine blue lake sits on the pristine blue lake with larger mountains, which is the background, and it’s no surprise that we are all attracted to her beauty. You can’t take bad photos here. You can’t.
Your amazing hike or outdoor adventure with Wānaka will never be out of reach. Mecca, a sanctuary for outdoor enthusiasts and curious travelers, you cannot ask for picturesque backdrops.
2. Real town resonance
Even though the population here doubled in Wānaka for the decade I lived here, it still exudes the atmosphere of a small town. A kind and friendly place (also rich); when you go out you always see people you know. Here everyone knows your name, from Postie to friends of friends to your barista. It’s great, but it also makes dating difficult and somewhat incest.
Crime will never be in Wānaka’s mind. This is where you can put your wallet and phone on your cafe table and when you come back it will still be there. In fact, our weekly news bulletin, the Courier, has a crime action column written by local police officers, and it is often fun. First, because “crime” is often not even a crime, just like police officers checking alarms at the local gas station at night, accidentally eliciting criticism from anti-Bergle fog Canon.
Or they like to share their thoughts and opinions about the crime itself: “Now, if you’ve seen how many times we’ve crashed down the road in the last two weeks, you’re choking on the nachos.
Love it.
3. You’re surrounded by adventure
The first thing I noticed while living in Wanaka is that there are no shortage of adventures here. And there are also bad guy adventurers.
The portal to Aspiring national park on the mountainWānaka is the ideal foundation for those who love to spend time outdoors. Founded in 1964, the National Park covers an area of 3500 square kilometers and is located at the bottom of the Southern Alps, spreading towards Haast on the west coast, reaching Glenorchy, reaching Glenorchy, and all the way to Fiordland. On the ideal peaks, with Aspirational/Tetitia Mountain (3,033 meters) and many glaciers, this is a beautiful place and a beautiful place.
Whether you’re wiping the mountain, sailing on the lake, skiing fresh powder, climbing along the valley, or riding a mountain bike after get off work, Wānaka is for adventure.
In many ways, there are much more adventures here than Queenstown. Hiking can be really hard and often not easily accessible. If you want nature, put on your boots and walk on it.
4. Great every season
One of my favorite things about living in Wanaka is that we have four different seasons. Of course, they turned around from the Northern Hemisphere, but you are used to it. Christmas in mid-summer is actually great.
In autumn, everything turns red and gold. In New Zealand, we have few local deciduous trees, and sadly, once humans settle here, all the locals were burned. But due to all these farms, many other trees are also introduced, such as poplars and other old European trees. In addition, there are a large number of vineyards, so the landscape here has colorful views (April). This is one of the best places for autumn leaves.
We have two epic ski resorts nearby and snowy mountains in winter. Spring turns the landscape into a rainbow of colors, our summers are very hot and dry, and everyone is hanging out there by the clear blue lake. Perfect.
5. Hāwea is actually the best
One of my favorite parts of Wānaka is strange hāwea? A small suburb of Lake Hāwea, just 15 minutes from the west coast of another magical Alpine Lake. Spoiler Alert – Lake Javia beats Lake Wanaka. I will die on this mountain. It’s clearer, quieter, it’s colder, but it’s so relaxing and beautiful. Sometimes, as far as I know, I am the only person on the beach.
Ten years ago, Hāwea was just a small part of Baches (holiday houses) and was also home to Wānaka hippies. It seemed very far away at that time, and it seemed very far away. Now, many paddocks are being developed and turned into these small biscuit communities, “affordable” for about a million dollars. This is where all my friends moved to and built the house.
I’ve lived in Hāwea for nearly two years and love it. Still really cold. We have a corner store and that’s it. I walk for a long time every day and can easily stroll to my friend’s house. In summer, I swim in the lake almost every day. This is magic.
When I was working on a boat in the Arctic, I met a passenger who had an artist friend who met a trip living in Javia. They wrote him a letter asking me to hand it over to him. I don’t know who he is. When I got home, I posted the name about it in our community Facebook group and found that he dropped the letter. Everyone loves this story.
6. Work cannot define you
Wānaka is where people who really want to be here. You have to really hope it can be affordable. It attracts people who are truly creative, fun, chill and outdoors, all combined with a love for nature. Without job opportunities in big cities, people just have to do their best to continue living in Wanaka.
But what is so cool is that your passion and hobbies are more important than your job. Who are you really? No one really cares about your job. I like that.
I’m going to say that making friends in Wanaka is not that easy. A natural temporary town; if locals think you’re just here or traveling seasonally, they may not bother you. Harsh, I know. But once you enter, you enter. This is one of the best ways to meet someone like the people here is to get involved in the outdoors. There are many.
7. Epic ski resort nearby
Overall, Wānaka is a ski town. Cardrona and Treble Cones are two of New Zealand’s most iconic ski resorts, both adjacent to Wānaka. Winter is as busy as summer. It’s a resort town, but not as stupid as Whistler. We’re also great Heliskiing also.
We are here in old school and are proud of it. No big gondola will take you to the top of the mountain. You have to drive along the dirt road to get to the ski slope, with only a few chairs on each chair. But this is amazing. Above the high mountain levels we have no trees, so the view is spectacular. And, surprisingly, we have the calmest weather in winter. Not much wind. We got a lot of bluebird peaceful days in the sun.
Wānaka in winter is really perfect.
8. It’s close to all the best attractions
One of the best parts of living in Wanaka is not only something around town, but the fact that some of the best areas are so central. Right on the hill, you have a larger Queenstown hub, a major airport, a lot of single men, and most importantly Kmart.
Apart from being surrounded by national parks, the wine countryside around central Otago is less than an hour’s drive from Wānaka, and some of the best Pinots are around. Clyde, Cromwell and Alexandra are easily accessible. We had two great ski slopes in a relaxing drive, and both Cardrona and Arrowtown were lovely on the way to Queenstown.
The coast is only a few hours away cat or Riverton Or head to the West Coast to enjoy some sea air. Dunedin is the main city in our area, three hours away.
9. Super cute and weird
Although great local haunts were experienced while the development of Wānaka was flourishing. Full of charm, history and super quirky places, they are the places that make many of us fall in love with living in Wanaka.
We have a huge fence on the road in Cardrona. Nothing is more important than this. this Cardrona Bra Fence It has remained strong for decades, although it occasionally annoys the locals that they tear them all apart at night, just to make them appear quickly.
Our local cinema Paradise Cinema has comfortable chairs, sofas, and even convertible cars to watch the latest movies. During the intermission, they also offer freshly baked cookies. The confusing world is a weird and beloved local spot filled with fantasy, seemingly hard mazes and other seemingly difficult puzzles. We also have a toy museum.
A small, weird town!
10. The clearest nMy sky
Finally, one of my favorite things to live in Wanaka has to be our clear night sky. Compared to the rest of the world, we have little light pollution in and around Wānaka. This means that on clear nights, the stars are incredible, even in the city.
You can walk out of your home at night and see the Milky Way. If you’re lucky, we often have aurora or South Light Dancing from the horizon.
Damn it. Writing this article just made me fall in love with Wanaka again!
