If you Google “Wanaka Tree” you get back a specific tree growing in Lake Wanaka.  It dumbfounds the locals, who do not understand why this particular tree has gained such notoriety.  After all it is not unique, they are many trees in the region.  It also isn’t even native.  Yet it is perhaps the most photographed tree in all of New Zealand.  Naturally, I had to go take a look for myself and take a picture. 

Christmas day after opening presents RBD and I hiked into town from the house and paid homage to the Wanaka tree.  We explored the town, a cute little village which feels similar to Blowing Rock, North Carolina.  Lots of tour companies, cutesy gift shops, bars, ice cream parlours, and, of course, a real estate office in case you’d like to make vacation a more permanent thing.  Everything was closed, so the place was deserted.  Along our hike were a myriad of Kiwis behaving much like Americans on the 4th of July.  BBQs, water sports, beer, and beaching were prevalent.

After our hike and swim we ate Christmas dinner outside and watched the stars come out late into the night, everyone trading stories and laughing about youthful indiscretions, over an unhealthy amount of wine.  

Today we woke with headaches and decided to blow off wine tasting till tomorrow. Instead we tripped into Mt. Aspiring National Park to take a brief hike with the family.  If one could travel a direct route there, it wouldn’t have taken long.  However that’s not how things work here.  You follow the path the mountains allow you to take, usually a very circuitous route on two lane roads, often not paved.  Thus distances and travel times are somewhat skewed.     

Our trip to Raspberry Hut, a sort of ranger station, took us along the banks of the Matukituki (ma TOOK e took e) River, which flows from the park into Lake Wanaka.  It’s a “braided river,” meaning it follows no single channel but instead creates multiple smaller channels, or braids, within the river bed.  Apparently when it rains, nobody dares stand out in the river for fear of flash floods suddenly changing the river’s course.  The valley road took us through several cattle, deer, and sheep farms.  Farmers rent the land to the Dept. of Conservation so we tourists can enjoy it.  While admiring the pristine scenery, you took care to avoid heaps of cow shit — words to live by, really.  

The rolling hills you see in the pictures were caused by debris falling down from the mountain tops after the glaciers left.  With the mountains now unsupported by ice, a lot of loose rocks came down.  To some degree it still does.  Grass eventually grew on top, and the Matukituki River carved a channel through the area carrying these rocks presumably to beaches along Lake Wanaka and beyond.              

Clouds rolled in making pictures of the glacier difficult.  Sadly the immensity of it cannot come through.  It’s thick with blue edges and looms over the landscape.  It feels oddly alive and as if any moment the thing could just come crashing down.  At the bottom edge, 1000’ waterfalls dump melt water into channels which feed this and other rivers.  We ate lunch in a glen overlooking the river with a thick carpet of dandelions around us.  I couldn’t help but think a Disney princess would materialize and break into song at any moment.  

After our hike we drove to a local swimming hole.  The water was cold and the river current strong, but that didn’t seem to bother anyone.  Vertical cliffs lined the deep channel, which created an ideal environment for “safely” jumping off.  It seemed like too much fun to pass up.  I stripped down and tried it several times.  I’ve never fallen 20’ into a deep, cold pool of glacial melt water before.  

Like much in this country, it certainly does take your breath away.