Wanaka

Wanaka is a quieter, more understated version of Queenstown.  It’s a little more mellow, a little less adrenaline packed, and a bit less touristy.  It was an excellent place to spend our last moments in New Zealand, enjoying mountain and lake views from the living room of our awesome hostel (it was a tad windy and cold for too much outdoor exploring.)

How would you like to cruise around on this house boat?  Pretty killer views.  Not that there is a dearth of beautiful views around Wanaka.  I feel like a broken record, but New Zealand is seriously stunning.After a short spell in Wanaka we headed back to Queenstown to spent one last night before catching our flight to Sydney.  After being in “travel mode” for three weeks, we were ready to be in one place for a while.
New Zealand has a fantastic reputation with travelers all over the world, and I can certainly understand why.  Beautiful, clean, friendly and easy to travel, New Zealand doesn’t leave you wanting for much.  It was this great reputation that had us initially planning to spend 4-6 weeks here.  We shortened our stay mostly for financial reasons (it’s not very budget friendly around here), but in the end I’m actually glad our stay ended up being shorter.  Sure, we could have spent a ton more time exploring all the beautiful areas of this country (there was so, so much we didn’t get to.)  But culturally New Zealand is very much like the US, which made it a little too easy on us – there isn’t much need to learn and expand when everyone speaks your language and you already know all the cultural norms.  I’m sure later in life we’ll happily travel here again and be grateful for the ease, but for now we’re up for a little more adventure.

New Zealand definitely served as a good first world power-up after the craziness of Central America.  After our upcoming stint housesitting in Australia I suspect we’ll be ready for more challenging travel again in Asia.  But first – Sydney!