Wanaka
May 19, 2007
Another morning, myself and my travel buddy, Paul, finding ourselves with no fixed plans decided this time to venture north towards Wanaka. Wanaka is another small town, set on a large lake of the same name where you can find a selection of cafes, resturants and shops, again with that distinct New Zealand charm.....I can never quite put my finger on it. Now, there are two main routes; one route takes you via the town of Cromwell (the route by which we arrived by on our way through from Christchurch) and takes approx. 3 hours, the other route is half the distance in almost a straight line aireally but there is however, a mountain inbetween. The Crown Range, as its known, is supposedly the highest public open road in the southern hemisphere and is without doubt an un-missable road trip when visiting Queenstown. At the top of the peak there is the Cardrona Hotel, and despite not personally stopping in, I have heard it is worth a visit. To be perfectly honest, there arent many places in this area that dont have spectacular views, but the Crown Range of course, offers some magnificent panoramic sights of the South Island in all its glory.
