Wanaka

Wanaka is a small town on the South Island of New Zealand. It is located in Queenstown- Lakes District on the southeast end of Lake Wanaka. State Highway 6 runs close by on the spot.

History

Wanaka is part of the Queenstown- Lakes District and was until 1940 known as the Pembroke. The first settlement was founded during the gold rush in the 19th century. Especially the forestry boomed because you needed the tribes as props in the mines. Today, the site is dominated by tourism.

Population

The site had the Census 2001 3.333 inhabitants, an increase of 31.9% since 1996. During 2013 census Wanaka had 6,474 inhabitants.

Attractions

Worth seeing is the Puzzling World of Stuart Landsborough with a two-story maze.

At the movies Cinema Paradiso serve sofas and an old convertible as cinema seats, and in the film break you can buy freshly baked cookies.

The mountains and lakes around Wanaka and Queenstown formed the backdrop for some scenes from Lord of the Rings.

Sport and Leisure

Especially in winter, skiers and snowboarders come to the three alpine skiing Treble Cone, Cardrona and Snow Park. In summer, the lake and the white water rivers lure with wakeboarding, rafting, sledging, kayaking and canyoning, but also for sailing and fishing. Furthermore, paragliding courses, tandem jumps or case Helibiking are possible. Wanaka is also the starting point of various walks in the Mount Aspiring National Park.

Every year in January can be found here at the foot of Mount Aspiring, the Challenge Wanaka instead - a triathlon over the Ironman distance (3.86 km swim, 180.2 km cycling and 42.195 km running).