Wanaka

Not really sure why we decided to go to Wanaka to be honest , something about hiking or something ? I left Kathleen to decide this one as we had visions of grandeur but as we planned the routes for this trip we realized we needed to rest so it was kinda fitting that we ended up in this lazy lake side town . Our day started in Queenstown where we had to go have breakfast ice cream ... don’t judge me ! There is a place called Patagonia that has an awesome selection and as you know by now that someone amongst us loves ice cream so I’m not one to say no to anything and next thing you know we are taking an 8 am hike to get some creme glacé . Like I said earlier , don’t judge me 🤨 we grabbed our morning flat white coffee and found ourselves at Patagonia staring down a list of flavours and immediately the banana split flavour leaped out at me so that’s what I had and Kathleen had After Eight flavoured ice cream ... mine was better of course hahaha . We went back to our room to enjoy our stay there until the minute we had to check out at 11 am as I sat around writing my blog . That room was so nice at the Crowne Plaza . Bags packed , we then got our car and hit the road .

The drive over there was just over an hour which was nice and when we arrived it was just after noon so we went to see if we could check in and of course we couldn’t which seems to be a thing here on this continent . 7 out of 8 places we’ve stayed in have said our room is not ready and wouldn’t let us in until check in time as if the room magically was cleaned at that exact second . Our hotel there is called the Edgewater Resort and seems to look like they have an upscale motel type setting on a golf course right by the lake and their big selling point is that they are so close to #thatwanakatree . I added the hash tag because if you look this hashtag up you will see that this tree sitting alone in the lake is probably the most hash tagged tree in the world . We didn’t know this when planning so when we found out we couldn’t check in we decide to go scout my next photo in my goalie gear . When we got to the parking lot we figured it’s best for me to do this shot in the morning as the lot was full and there were tons of tourists taking photos which is never a good thing when trying to get my shot as people don’t give a rats ass who’s taking the pic as long as they get theirs . I don’t blame them as I’m nobody in reality anyways ... just some crazy goalie nobody really knows that gets awesome once in a lifetime photos while sweating my ass off 😓regardless we decide to be back for the sunrise tomorrow and get the pics here . We then drive down to the other end of the strip of restaurants , bars and shops to park and make our way back while deciding where to book a reservation for dinner . We have come to realize that reserving a table is key down here and without reservation you are lucky to sit in the bathroom eating your meal . We found a place called Lake Bar which has signage for a brew pub also which is confusing but I’m sure that’s the name of the place . It’s now time to check in and we have figured that our place has a jacuzzi and sauna which we are free to use .... so we drive back to our hotel . 

The person at the front desk was not very friendly and I think she had a Spanish accent and a degree in not dealing with people so she knew what she was doing . I wasn’t an ass to her but when she spoke to me I didn’t like her tone or delivery .... we ended up in a room above another room . Like I said picture a motel with a second floor but two rooms share one door . When we got to our room it was a hotbox and not the kind of hotbox I used to enjoy when smoking but the hotbox where holy shit I am cooking internally in here . There is no a/c and the bed is just steaming heap of heat which I come to realize has a heat pad in it that is on . Kathleen called the front desk to see if there is any rooms with air conditioning and the woman said no so she went to the desk to get some ice so we can have some gin and tonics and go chill in the spa .... apparently that Spanish speaking woman avoided her like the plague probably knowing we weren’t exactly pleased . FYI this room cost us roughly $200 for the night and this hotel is one of the worst we have stayed in and if it didn’t have a sauna I would rank it 8th out of 8 but I am gonna be generous and say it was 5 or 6 with a few dumps that were worse and at the end of the trip I will do some overall ratings for you all and I will tag them all hahaha ! Now the spa which was two jacuzzi’s and a sauna room were sitting there lonely with nobody using them ? So we took our drinks and enjoyed it all to ourselves for the afternoon and after that I took a nice nap . Wanaka doesn’t have much to do to be honest and is kinda lame . Just my opinion and I’m glad we only spent the night but it did serve the purpose of some chillaxing which was needed . If you want to see the tree , drive through and don’t stay here . If you wanna go hiking or do some nature stuff then spend the night but don’t expect any wild nights here .... just my opinion . 

After my nap we walked over to have dinner which was about a 45 minute lazy walk and we had some chicken wings to start which sucked ...and then realized that tonight is steak night so I had a steak 🥩 yes that’s two nights in a row and of course I had my meat cooked medium but ended up closer to well done and was nothing close to what I had at Flame the night before . I would say our meal was mediocre at best and to top it all off that reservation we made for the table at the window almost ended up being a table in the middle of the patio which we then said why would we reserve a table in the middle of the room ? They sorted that for us but what a cluster fuck ! After our meal we went for another ice cream which I had a banana flavour and that was nowhere close to as good as the one I had to start the day and overall I would say Wanaka does not compare at all to Queenstown and should be called Wanka instead ..... we walked back to our hotbox of a room and had probably the worst sleep of our trip . All I could think about while we were there was leaving . This was the lamest day of the whole trip so far even though it was needed and when you travel and you find out that a tree is the most exciting thing in a town/city you should know that excitement is not what is provided . Get me out of here 😬

If you are wondering about the tree I will talk about it more in my next post .