Day 5 – Headed North

378km driven

Today is our biggest drive of the trip, where we’re leaving Te Anau and snaking our way through Arrowtown, Wanaka and landing about half way up the south island in Twizel, which is pretty much a full day of driving. Tomorrow is planned as our heli-hike day on Mount Cook, but that is entirely dependent on weather, so we have a few things planned that we do either tomorrow or the day after once we know if we have the go-ahead. Our first pitstop was Lake Wakatipu, another scenic view for the memory bank.

We then made our way to Arrowtown, which is a quaint small town that, for anyone from Melbourne, is extremely reminiscent of Sovereign Hill in Ballarat. The main strip is made up of buildings that appear to come straight out of a gold prospecting western, with wooden signs hanging from the awnings, and horse ties out front. The sun was out and the atmosphere was welcoming, it was very easy to lose a few hours here just taking it all in. We grabbed some food from the bakery and headed to the creek to enjoy the tranquility. 

Not far outside of Arrowtown was an alpine lookout which gives you magnificent views of the town, farmlands and the many mountains surrounding the valley we were in. We also spotted some wild manuka trees!

The next thing on our list was much closer to where our final destination was, and I have been ridiculously tired the last few days, so the long stretch in between was a slog! When we pulled up in Wanaka at the famed Wanaka Tree, I didn’t really know what to expect. But I suppose that’s on me, since it’s kind of in the name? We spotted a group of people scattered on a particular part of the beach all in different positions taking photos. Once we made our way over we spotted a spindly tree about 10m offshore with a magnificent backdrop of the white capped mountains behind. It’s a quirky little tourist attraction, but I can see how it became a thing. 

It was only a short drive to our accommodation where we spent the rest of the evening. 

Today was a productive travel day, but not much to report! If it goes ahead, tomorrow will be very different!