Drove into Wanaka after briefly checking out Fox Glacier. After hitting up the grocery store to restock our supplies, we took a walk around town. Wanaka, a town of about 4,000, reminded me of a small, upscale Colorado ski resort, except that it sits right between the mountains and Lake Wanaka. Lots of up market alpine stores and restaurants litter the main street. And the houses (oh goodness!) looked like they had been transplanted straight from North Dallas. For Dallas natives, imagine if Plano sat in a gorgeous alpine valley rather than flatlands.
Had a great dinner of chicken noodle soup on a picturesque, very secluded beach on Lake Wanaka. Shame we couldn't camp there but the entry to the gravel road strictly prohibited camping.
That night we went to see a movie at the Paradiso Cinema, a quirky little movie theater that has replaced traditional seats with couches and recliners. The Paradiso is one of Wanaka's biggest draws with backpacking tourists as Lonely Planet has heralded the place with praise befitting an Egyptian Pharaoh, and decidedly so, the place is cool. They even have an intermission during the movie so you can go buy freshly baked chocolate chip cookies. Delicious! Plus, it was great being in a warm place because being in the mountains had turned the weather quite chilly.
That night we broke our cardinal rule of free camping: Never park next to other vans free camping! Ended up being woken at 5 am by a council worker informing us that we couldn't sleep there. Wasn't too big of a deal though since we would wake up at 6 anyways, but nonetheless we learned a valuable lesson, stay away from other dirt baggers like ourselves!
With our early morning, we made good time driving into Queenstown. Another benefit being up early was seeing a gorgeous sunrise. If Wanaka was upscale, then Queenstown was posh. Not quite Aspen posh, but ritzy nonetheless. Didn't take many pictures as I was under the weather with a snotty cold, but we tried to stay warm at a local coffee shop that morning.
Queenstown is known as the Extreme Adventure Sports capital of the World, with the primary claim to fame being that it is the birthplace of bungy jumping. Our parents would be proud to know that the most extreme thing we did was a much-needed load of laundry. Frankly, bungy jumping doesn't interest Veronica or myself, and when you are on a long trip, you just can't do some expensive activity every single day.
The best part of Queenstown was unequivocally our dinner at Winnies, a gourmet pizza joint. Seriously, Veronica and I nearly wept with gluttonous joy as we scarfed down tasty chicken wings followed by some of the most gloriously inventive pizza we had ever tasted. Winnies, you made Queenstown. Please, don't you ever change!
Found a great place to park and camp, nice and tucked away from the town center and overlooking the lake, very choice indeed.
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