With overgrown valleys, unspoiled rivers and tumbling glaciers, the Wanaka region is crowned with the colossal Mt Aspiring (Tititea), the highest peak outside the Mt Cook region. Enter this area from the north via Haast Pass, and you encounter the region’s beautiful twin lakes, Wanaka and Hawea, two expansive freshwater siblings wedged between awesome hills and cliffs. From the south via Cardrona, stunning valley views and mountain vistas are on tap. The Wanaka region, and especially the activity-filled town of Wanaka itself, is seeing more and more travellers, but it’s still a quieter alternative to pumpin’ Queenstown. And once you’ve sampled a few closer-to-Wanaka action activities and told tall stories in the town’s pubs and bars, get off the tourist trail by exploring the Mt Aspiring National Park, or the forested wilderness around Makarora.
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Beautiful scenery, tramping and skiing opportunities, and an expanding roster of adrenaline-inducing activities have transformed the lakeside town of Wanaka into a year-round tourist destination. Travellers come here as an alternative to Queenstown, and while some locals worry their home is starting to resemble its hyped-up Central Otago sibling across the Crown Range, Wanaka’s lakefront area retains a laid-back, small-town feel. It’s definitely not a sleepy hamlet anymore though, and new restaurants and bars are adding a veneer of sophistication. Note that Wanaka wakes up in a big way for New Year’s Eve.
Surrounded by the soaring indigo heights of the Remarkables, crowned by Coronet Peak, and framed by the meandering coves of Lake Wakatipu, it’s little wonder that Queenstown is a show-off. The town wears its ‘Global Adventure Capital’ badge proudly, and most visitors take the time to do crazy things they’ve never done before. But a new Queenstown is also emerging, with a cosmopolitan restaurant and arts scene and excellent vineyards. Go ahead and jump off a bridge or out of a plane, but also make time to slow down, and experience Queenstown without the adrenaline. And once you’ve eased up, look forward to more of the same in historic Arrowtown or beautiful Glenorchy.
If Queenstown didn’t exist, someone would have to invent it. With a cinematic background of mountains and lakes you actually have seen in the movies, and a ‘what can we think of next?’ array of adventure activities, it’s little wonder that the South Island’s premier tourist town tops many travellers’ Kiwi itineraries. This Disneyland of derring-do will prompt a hundred synonyms for ‘exciting’ and ‘thrilling’ for your travel journal, but lurking in and around the tangle of bungy cords are experiences that will last longer than a shriek-inducing 10 or 20 seconds.
No-one’s ever visited Queenstown and said, ‘I’m bored’. Looking like a small town, but displaying the energy of a small city, Queenstown offers a mountain of activities. If your ‘Things to Do’ list contains bungy-jumping, caving, rafting, sledging, jetboating, skiing, skydiving and hang gliding, trained operators are waiting on your call right now.
At Makarora you’ve left the West Coast and entered Otago, but the township still has a West Coast frontier feel. Visit the DOC visitor information centre (03-443 8365; www.makarora.co.nz; SH6; 8am-4.45pm daily Nov-Apr, 8am-4.45pm Mon-Fri May-Oct) at the Makarora Wilderness Resort for conditions and routes before undertaking any regional tramps.
Set in achingly beautiful surroundings, postage-stamp-sized Glenorchy is the perfect low-key antidote to the hype and bustle of Queenstown. An expanding range of adventure operators will get you active on the lake and in nearby mountain valleys by kayak, horse or jetboat, but if you prefer to strike out on two legs, tiny Kinloch just across the lake is the starting-off point for some of the South Island’s finest tramps. Glenorchy lies at the head of Lake Wakatipu, a scenic 40-minute (68km) drive northwest from Queenstown.