Wednesday, August 6, 2025

Sunday-Tuesday Wanaka to Picton

Sunday we were in Wanaka. This is a small town on a huge lake in the south island. There was a little church we attended and joined in singing praise to God with believers in NZ. After meeting a man there, he was surprise to meet our Thaddeus and was quick to introduce to his 11 year old son Thaddeus!

Another attraction in Wanaka is Puzzle World. This would be similar to Mystery Spot in CA. After an hour with their indoor exhibits, we spent 1.5 hours navigating their outdoor maze. It starts out easy, but was tricking to find the corners.



These chain links are carved out of one stone.



This is a lake just south of Queenstown.

Wanaka is still a long way on the south island, so Sunday we needed to drive 4-5 hours. After driving 3 hours we took a break at this beach. The remarkable nature of beaches on the western shore is the steepness of the shore. The water would come up so quickly. It was supposed to be a fast stop, but it was so much fun we stayed until sunset.



Monday there was a stop we hoped to be a fast stop. Three hours later we finally left. It was called Shanty town.








We made it out Shantytown by 2:00pm in time for lunch at McDonalds. We then took a small detour to look at some pancake rocks. These were very impressive. Again the short stop turned into 2 hours later. This all meant we got on the road late and made it to our campground in Nelson by 8:15pm. This put us only 2 hours from Picton, where we needed to catch the ferry to the north Island.


On Tuesday at 2:15pm we boarded the ferry and said goodbye to our fun adventure on the south island.


 

1 comment:

Kathy JB Tanner said...

Looks like you all are having so much fun.
I loved watching a sunset over the ocean in New Zealand!! Amazing.
What a beautiful country!!
Two Thaddeus’s - 😍 That’s cool!