Jesus, Wanaka is beautiful!

Wanaka.

What a brilliant place.

One of those places you don’t want to leave.

We spent 2 days there on the way down to Queenstown and had planned to spend another 3 days after returning the campervan.  Those 3 days turned into 5 as we couldn’t leave.

We stayed at The Zula Lodge that offers 3 nights free accommodation for Israelis.  It is run by Messianic Christians who believe that Jews are The Chosen People and that Jesus was the Messiah (Ed. - this author offers no opinion on the existence or otherwise of the Messiah, past, present or future!).  Beliefs aside, we had a great time there, so much so that we paid to stay on for another 2 nights.  The place was full of younger, travelling Israelis plus a nice German family who were volunteering and so the kids had a ball, we shared meals together, they played games, chatted and generally just felt at home.

Guy celebrated his birthday there and with Eyal having alsojust celebrated his birthday, we threw a joint party for them.  They loved the attention and it certainly made up for them not celebrating with family and friends back in Israel.

Away from The Zula, we had a packed 5 days.

In a crazy coincidence, an old work colleague from London had moved to Wanaka in 2017 and having not been in contact for 16 years, we met up thanks to Facebook.  As an added bonus, Orlando happens to have a speedboat so him and his wife Melissa took us out for the day on the Lake, we stopped at a deserted island for a BBQ picnic and soaked up the breathtaking views.  It was an absolutely brilliant day, both for catching up and for experiencing the Wanaka good life.  16 years after sharing bottles of wine in Soho pubs, here we were, 12,000 miles round thw world, sharing wine on the shores of Lake Wanaka, both a bit older, perhaps a little wiser but certainly both enjoying life.

We spent a couple of days trekking.  First, the amazing Rob Roy Glacier Trek which we did with some of the volunteers from The Zula.  A 10km walk to get up close and personal with the Rob Roy Glacier.  The weather was fantastic and the scenery likewise.  A nice walk through forest but the end point opens to close-up views of the hanging Glacier, breathtaking.

The second trek was Diamond Lake.  The views should have been spectacular but the weather wasn’t with us so although it was a nice 3 hour hike up and down Rocky Mountain, we didn’t get the best of the views at the top.  But that is New Zealand, the weather is changeable, you just have to learn to take it as it comes and appreciate the moody grey skies as much as the clear blue ones.

Our final day in Wanaka was a little damp so we headed to Puzzling World, a world of mazes, optical illusions and puzzle games.  The kids loved it, they beat me and Shoshi to escape the maze, finishing in just over 1 hr as we struggled to find our way out.  Oh, how we got lost. Oh, how they laughed. 

That brought an end to our time in Wanaka and really our time in the Southern reaches of the South Island.  We might not have found Jesus, but we certainly found a brilliant town, set in quite breathtaking scenery and we all admitted we’d hate to think we will never return to this special place.