Lake Wanaka
How better to pass a nice early summers day than to go to a lake side? Perfect! Lets go! The journey there takes you through gorges, along twisty roads and beside the most amazingly blue rivers.
Once valleys filled with orchards and busy townships, the need for water in Central Otago forced the heart-wrenching choice to be made, and huge reservoirs were created. Below them lay what is left of the orchards and houses, deserted before the waters filled the huge expanse.
Supplying water to a vast area, the dam also generates electricity for almost half the South Island! As we moved along the course of this huge river, we stopped and bought fresh fruit. Renowned for the orchards, we were able to purchase cherries, apricots, berry-fruit and the most wonderful new potatoes we’ve ever had.
Later on we will drive up to Ettrick and Millers Flat to get apples, pears, plums, quince and late seasons vegetables. It’s a way of life here – and many roadside stalls operate on an honesty policy, with bags and boxes of their wares laid out with prices on and a locked receptacle for the money to be left in!
Honey is also a huge industry here and all along the road you could spot fields and paddocks with clusters of beehives in, the occupants hidden from view, creating the sweet treat that most people love!
The other side of Cromwell, a mere 4 hour drive (allowing for dawdling!) from Dunedin, is Lake Dunstan. Beautiful, yes, but not our ultimate destination!
On the side of the gorge, just before Cromwell, is this terrace. What it is for remains to be seen, but when I find out, I will tell you. At Cromwell two huge rivers converge, their colours contrasting sharply. Sadly I was unable to get a photo this time – but I will soon! The Clutha (Clyde in Gaelic) converges with the Kawerau here, as it comes from Lake Dunstan.
Leaving Cromwell we were told to look for the ‘big apples’ and once past them, turn right! A left turn would take us to Queenstown, but we wanted to move into the region where the main ski-fields are, and head for Lake Wanaka.
We weren’t disappointed, either. Though Wanaka itself was full of holiday-makers and bustling with more people than we’d seen in weeks, we found a place to stop and admire the view.
We had a picnic of sorts with us, so with it being quite late, decided to have our cheese and crackers here, overlooking the water. It was windy – seems you can almost set your watch by the ‘Wanaka wind’ as it gets quite blustery every day!
We ate and drank in the beauty and tranquillity of the scene. With the snow-capped mountains beyond the blue water, the dark green of pine trees and the paler green of meadows, it was almost like living a dream.
The conditions were perfect for those who enjoyed wind-powered water sports, and the yachting fraternity were out in their droves, though thankfully, most were well out of sight, far away over the horizon! Those closer to the shore were the novices, learning the skill of manoeuvring these craft!
With the wind gusting around their feathers, even the gulls sought somewhere on dry land to rest for a while. This one stayed close to us, even though we didn’t offer it any food! It was just too hard to try to fight the breezes!
The mountains will have their snowy shroud again by winter, inviting people to visit, climb, explore and ski their rocky faces. The Cardrona and Triple Cone snowfields are close to Wanaka, so if you venture there you can’t miss this gorgeous lake!
Awesome.