Backpacking New Zealand (Part 5) - Wanaka

I guess I miserably failed my goal of attempting to have all of the New Zealand posts up by September. My bad. Internship has just been rather draining.

Anyway, here's part five! After a night at Cromwell, I departed for Wanaka - one of the more populated places as compared to all the other towns I've been to.
When I first read up on how quiet and serene New Zealand was, I was kind of expecting vibes like Punggol in Singapore. You know, just not as developed as compared to other areas with more nature and scenery (or at least it used to be) but nope it is far more secluded than that. But all the sites raved Wanaka to be one of the more "happening" places so I was thinking that maybe it'll be like Tampiness or Ang Mo Kio (yes I know that my comparisons gtg) but nope it's like Sembawang?? LOL.

While I really love how slow paced things were in New Zealand, I still prefer living in a more lively town (like Wanaka) especially after spending the past couple of days in quiet regions.
I guess that's what being brought up in a city does to you haha, but I still found the break from the hectic, fast-paced Singapore to be quite rejuvenating!!


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Anyway, to get to Wanaka, I got a hitch hike from a local on his truck from Makaroa. He was actually the first kiwi I got to talk to during my past four days there?
I expected myself to interact with more locals but the South Island is mostly made up of with foreigners who are either here for a vacation or their one-year long working holiday. Even most of the staff at supermarkets, inns and cafes were all foreigners who applied for the working holiday VISA. I digress.

The kiwi was pretty cool. He's actually a hunter with a super huge dog in the backseat (didn't see the dog there until it barked at me when I got into the passenger seat) and throughout the ride we were talking about his job, NZ and backpacking solo.
My only regret is not taking a photo with him cause I didn't want phone photos...

Upon reaching Wanaka, I reconciled with the two friends I made at Mt Cook! Right after we went for the Glendhu Bay track leading to the Waterfall Creek, only we didn't finish the entire track cause it started to rain and got really cold.





That wanaka tree




I spent the next two days doing other tracks in Wanaka (Beacon Point track and the Mt Iron trek), and exploring the neighbourhood which had quite some unique stores and a winter fair.








The summit of Mt Iron



I also spent the nights at one of the bars in town and one of the mornings at a cafe with new friends I made in the dorm. I suppose I splurged a little bit more during my stay in Wanaka. But the food was really good (though expensive) so it was money well spent?
I could have saved more but I went to a couple of bars and tried some of the cades when I went to Queenstown since they are well known for them. I thought I shouldn't miss these small thrills since I was already there. But, I think I should have controlled myself a bit more LOL.

Anyway, I edited this photoset a little differently than how normally would. What do you think? :)
Hope you guys are enjoying my NZ posts so far!! Till next time.

Check out my other posts on New Zealand:

▶ Backpacking New Zealand (Part 1) - Why I backpacked solo
▶ Backpacking New Zealand (Part 2) - Tekapo
▶ Backpacking New Zealand (Part 3) - Mountain Cook
▶ Backpacking New Zealand (Part 4) - Cromwell & Makaroa
▶ Backpacking New Zealand (Part 5) - Wanaka
▶ Backpacking New Zealand (part 6) - Queenstown & Christchurch