Wānaka () is a popular ski and summer resort town in the
Otago
Otago (, ; ) is a regions of New Zealand, region of New Zealand located in the southern half of the South Island and administered by the Otago Regional Council. It has an area of approximately , making it the country's second largest local go ...
region of the
South Island
The South Island ( , 'the waters of Pounamu, Greenstone') is the largest of the three major islands of New Zealand by surface area, the others being the smaller but more populous North Island and Stewart Island. It is bordered to the north by ...
of
New Zealand
New Zealand () is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and List of islands of New Zealand, over 600 smaller islands. It is the List of isla ...
. At the southern end of
Lake Wānaka
Lake Wānaka is New Zealand's List of lakes in New Zealand#Largest lakes, fourth-largest lake and the seat of the town of Wānaka in the Otago region. The lake is 278 meters above sea level, covers , and is more than deep.
"Wānaka" is the So ...
, it is at the start of the
Clutha River and is the gateway to
Mount Aspiring National Park.
Wānaka is primarily a
resort town with both summer and winter seasons. Its economy is based on the many outdoor opportunities this offers.
Historically, Māori visited the Wānaka area to hunt and fish in summer, or on their way to seek (greenstone) on the West Coast.
Ngāi Tahu
Ngāi Tahu, or Kāi Tahu, is the principal Māori people, Māori (tribe) of the South Island. Its (tribal area) is the largest in New Zealand, and extends from the White Bluffs / Te Parinui o Whiti (southeast of Blenheim, New Zealand, Blenhe ...
abandoned their seasonal camps after a raid by a
North Island
The North Island ( , 'the fish of Māui', historically New Ulster) is one of the two main islands of New Zealand, islands of New Zealand, separated from the larger but less populous South Island by Cook Strait. With an area of , it is the List ...
war party in 1836.
The current town was founded as Pembroke during the
gold rush
A gold rush or gold fever is a discovery of gold—sometimes accompanied by other precious metals and rare-earth minerals—that brings an onrush of miners seeking their fortune. Major gold rushes took place in the 19th century in Australia, ...
of the 19th century, and renamed to Wanaka in 1940.
Along with the rest of the
Queenstown-Lakes District, Wānaka is growing rapidly, with the population increasing by 50% between 2005 and 2015.
Names

''Wānaka'' is the South Island dialect pronunciation of , which means 'sacred knowledge or a place of learning'.
The New Zealand Gazetteer cites the meaning as "the lore of the tohunga or priest".
[
]
While the name could also be a variation of Ō-Anake or Ō-Anaka, a proper name.
The Ngāi Tahu Atlas dismisses this variation as a simple spelling mistake.
A
Kāti Māmoe settlement at the site of modern Wānaka was
or .
was a Kāi Tahu (settlement) at the southern end of Lake Wānaka, including Ruby Island.
The town was named Wanaka when it was first surveyed in 1863, but renamed Pembroke within a month of the surveyor returning his books to Dunedin. Pembroke was the family name of the
Hon Sydney Herbert,
a
UK Cabinet Minister and member of the
Canterbury Association
The Canterbury Association was formed in 1848 in England by Member of Parliament (United Kingdom), members of parliament, Peerage of the United Kingdom, peers, and Anglicanism, Anglican church leaders, to establish a colony in New Zealand. The se ...
.
The town's name reverted to Wanaka on 1 September 1940 to reduce confusion between the names of the town and the lake.
The official name of the lake was updated from Lake Wanaka to Lake Wānaka in 2019,
and the town to Wānaka in 2021.
History
A
Kāti Māmoe settlement at the site of modern Wānaka was named .
The area was invaded by the
Ngāi Tahu
Ngāi Tahu, or Kāi Tahu, is the principal Māori people, Māori (tribe) of the South Island. Its (tribal area) is the largest in New Zealand, and extends from the White Bluffs / Te Parinui o Whiti (southeast of Blenheim, New Zealand, Blenhe ...
in the early 18th century.
Ngāi Tahu visited annually, seeking greenstone in the mountains above the
Haast River and hunting eels and birds over summer, then returning to the east coast by descending the
Clutha River in reed boats called
mōkihi.
Their settlement included a
pā
The word pā (; often spelled pa in English) can refer to any Māori people, Māori village or defensive settlement, but often refers to hillforts – fortified settlements with palisades and defensive :wikt:terrace, terraces – and also to fo ...
and a (food-gathering site) where pora ('Māori turnip'), , tuna (eels), and
weka were gathered.
Eels and birds were gathered at a lagoon on the Hāwea side of The Neck, which also supported gardens of potato and turnips.
Ngāi Tahu use of the land was ended by
attacks by North Island tribes. In 1836, the
Ngāti Tama chief
Te Pūoho led a 100-person war party, armed with
musket
A musket is a muzzle-loaded long gun that appeared as a smoothbore weapon in the early 16th century, at first as a heavier variant of the arquebus, capable of penetrating plate armour. By the mid-16th century, this type of musket gradually dis ...
s, down the
West Coast and over the
Haast Pass. They fell on the Ngāi Tahu encampment between Lake Wānaka and
Lake Hāwea, capturing ten people and killing and eating two children.
Some of the Ngāi Tahu fled down the
Waitaki river to the coast. Te Puoho took his captives over the
Crown Range to
Lake Wakatipu and thence to Southland where he was killed and his war party destroyed by the southern Ngāi Tahu leader
Tūhawaiki.
The first European to visit the area was
Nathanael Chalmers, who was guided inland by Chiefs
Reko and Kaikōura in 1853. Reko and Kaikōura showed Chalmers the rock bridge Whatatorere at
Roaring Meg, which was the only place that the
Kawarau River could be jumped over,
and returned him down the Clutha in a
reed boat – arguably the first recorded instance of
adventure tourism in the region.
European settlement began in the Upper Clutha River Valley in the 1850s, with the establishment of sheep stations by
runholders. The first station was at
Albert Town, the only place where settlers could ford the
Clutha River. The present site of Wānaka was first surveyed in 1863.
Gold was discovered in the nearby
Cardrona valley in 1862 with many joining the gold rush.
Settlement increased in Pembroke during the 1870s because of timber milling in the
Matukituki Valley that used Lake Wānaka for transport.
Mass tourism began in 1867 when Theodore Russell opened the first hotel, and with the world's first
sheepdog trials. The first school in the area was opened in Albert Town in 1868.
The Pembroke post office opened in 1873; the Pembroke school opened in 1880 (it became the Wanaka District High School in 1940). In 1885 the Commercial Hotel opened in Pembroke, and in 1887 the Wanaka Library opened on Ardmore Street. In 1922, the First Wānaka Hotel was destroyed by fire and was replaced the following year by the Wanaka Public Hall. Wānaka was connected to the national electricity grid in 1940.
Wānaka proved a very popular tourist destination because of its borderline continental climate and easy access to snow and water. With the development of Treble Cone (1968) and Cardrona ski fields (1980), Wānaka grew in popularity as a winter destination.
Geography

The town of Wānaka is at the southern end of Lake Wānaka, surrounded by mountains. To the southwest are the
Crown and
Criffel Ranges and town of
Queenstown, away. To the north the
Haast Pass cuts through the
Southern Alps near
Makarora. To the northeast are the towns of
Omarama and
Twizel. Lake Wānaka comes within 1 km of the slightly smaller
Lake Hāwea; they are separated only by rocky ridge called "The Neck". South of Wānaka, the wide Upper Clutha valley leads to
Cromwell at the junction of the
Kawarau and
Clutha rivers.
Glendhu Bay is on the lake's western shore, close to the
Matukituki River valley which gives access to the
Mount Aspiring National Park.
The centre of the town lies on flat land beside Roy's Bay. The town has expanded into the hills surrounding the centre and in both directions along the lake shore. The lakeside area of the town is prone to occasional flooding in spring when heavy rain and snowmelt can cause the lake to rise quickly, as in November 1999.
Climate
Despite New Zealand's mostly
oceanic climate
An oceanic climate, also known as a marine climate or maritime climate, is the temperate climate sub-type in Köppen climate classification, Köppen classification represented as ''Cfb'', typical of west coasts in higher middle latitudes of co ...
, Wānaka is one of the few areas in the country to enjoy a semi-
continental climate
Continental climates often have a significant annual variation in temperature (warm to hot summers and cold winters). They tend to occur in central and eastern parts of the three northern-tier continents (North America, Europe, and Asia), typi ...
, with four distinct seasons. The weather is fairly dry, with spring (September–December) being the wettest season. Annual rainfall is 682 mm which is half the national average. Wānaka's summers are warm, with temperatures reaching the high 20s and an average summer maximum of . Wānaka's highest-ever temperature of was recorded in January 2018.
Winter can be extreme by New Zealand standards with temperature mostly in the single digits during the day time followed by cold and frosty nights and frequent snowfalls.
Demography
Wānaka covers
and had an estimated population of as of with a population density of people per km
2. It is the country's
43rd-largest urban area and the fifth-largest urban area in Otago behind
Dunedin
Dunedin ( ; ) is the second-most populous city in the South Island of New Zealand (after Christchurch), and the principal city of the Otago region. Its name comes from ("fort of Edin"), the Scottish Gaelic name for Edinburgh, the capital of S ...
,
Queenstown,
Mosgiel and
Oamaru.
Wānaka had a population of 9,552 at the
2018 New Zealand census, an increase of 3,078 people (47.5%) since the
2013 census, and an increase of 4,509 people (89.4%) since the
2006 census. There were 3,480 households, comprising 4,719 males and 4,842 females, giving a sex ratio of 0.97 males per female, with 1,662 people (17.4%) aged under 15 years, 1,611 (16.9%) aged 15 to 29, 4,599 (48.1%) aged 30 to 64, and 1,695 (17.7%) aged 65 or older.
Ethnicities were 92.7% European/
Pākehā, 5.2%
Māori, 0.5%
Pasifika, 4.5%
Asian, and 2.5% other ethnicities. People may identify with more than one ethnicity.
The percentage of people born overseas was 28.9, compared with 27.1% nationally.
Although some people chose not to answer the census's question about religious affiliation, 60.7% had no religion, 31.2% were
Christian
A Christian () is a person who follows or adheres to Christianity, a Monotheism, monotheistic Abrahamic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus in Christianity, Jesus Christ. Christians form the largest religious community in the wo ...
, 1.0% were
Hindu
Hindus (; ; also known as Sanātanīs) are people who religiously adhere to Hinduism, also known by its endonym Sanātana Dharma. Jeffery D. Long (2007), A Vision for Hinduism, IB Tauris, , pp. 35–37 Historically, the term has also be ...
, 0.2% were
Muslim
Muslims () are people who adhere to Islam, a Monotheism, monotheistic religion belonging to the Abrahamic religions, Abrahamic tradition. They consider the Quran, the foundational religious text of Islam, to be the verbatim word of the God ...
, 0.5% were
Buddhist
Buddhism, also known as Buddhadharma and Dharmavinaya, is an Indian religion and List of philosophies, philosophical tradition based on Pre-sectarian Buddhism, teachings attributed to the Buddha, a wandering teacher who lived in the 6th or ...
and 1.7% had other religions.
Of those at least 15 years old, 2,340 (29.7%) people had a bachelor's or higher degree, and 720 (9.1%) people had no formal qualifications. 1,641 people (20.8%) earned over $70,000 compared to 17.2% nationally. The employment status of those at least 15 was that 4,386 (55.6%) people were employed full-time, 1,323 (16.8%) were part-time, and 72 (0.9%) were unemployed.
Government
Wānaka is in the
Waitaki electorate, represented by the
New Zealand National Party
The New Zealand National Party (), often shortened to National () or the Nats, is a Centre-right politics, centre-right List of political parties in New Zealand, political party in New Zealand that is the current senior ruling party. It is one ...
's
Miles Anderson since 2023.
Wānaka's local governments are the
Queenstown-Lakes District Council and the
Otago Regional Council.
Wānaka wine sub-region
The area around Wānaka is a formal
sub-region of the
Central Otago wine region with several top wineries and vineyards. As with other parts of the wine region, the main grape variety in the area is
pinot noir
Pinot noir (), also known as Pinot nero, is a red-wine grape variety of the species ''Vitis vinifera''. The name also refers to wines created predominantly from Pinot noir grapes. The name is derived from the French language, French words fo ...
.
Attractions

With its lake and mountain views, Wānaka has become a popular tourist resort, considered less commercialised than
Queenstown.
Wānaka boasts a growing number of restaurants, cafes and a diverse nightlife. Other attractions in the town include
Puzzling World and the Paradiso Cinema. Puzzling World contains a maze,
optical illusions and a leaning clocktower. The Paradiso is a classic old cinema, with seating consisting of old couches and an in-theatre
Morris Minor. There are several wineries in the area. Just out of town next to the
Wānaka Airport is the
National Transport and Toy Museum.
In winter, Wānaka is an excellent place to see the
Southern Lights.
A number of mountains surrounding Wānaka can be climbed, including
Roys Peak,
Mount Iron, Mount Grand and the
Pisa Range, all of which provide views of the surrounding area.
"
That Wānaka Tree" – a
willow
Willows, also called sallows and osiers, of the genus ''Salix'', comprise around 350 species (plus numerous hybrids) of typically deciduous trees and shrubs, found primarily on moist soils in cold and temperate regions.
Most species are known ...
growing just inside the lake – is a tourist attraction in its own right, featuring on many tourists'
Instagram
Instagram is an American photo sharing, photo and Short-form content, short-form video sharing social networking service owned by Meta Platforms. It allows users to upload media that can be edited with Social media camera filter, filters, be ...
feeds. The tree had its lower branches cut by vandals in 2020.
Festivals

*The biennial
Warbirds over Wanaka airshow is a major attraction for national and international guests.
*Wanakafest
*NZ Freeski Open
*The biennial New Zealand music Rippon Festival
*Challenge Wanaka Triathlon Festival
*The ''
Festival of Colour'' is a biennial multi disciplinary arts festival featuring theatre, music, dance and visual arts. Held every second April, it alternates with the ideas festival ''Aspiring Conversations''; both are organised by the Southern Lakes Arts Festival Trust.
*
Rhythm & Alps
*The Wānaka agricultural and pastoral show has been held since 1934 at the showgrounds in Wānaka. Thirty to forty thousand people were expected at the 85th edition in March 2022.
*The Wanaka Rodeo is normally held each summer but was forced to cancel the 2022 edition due to "uncertainty around Covid-19 and new regulations".
Film locations
Films made in the Wānaka region include ''
The Lord of the Rings
''The Lord of the Rings'' is an Epic (genre), epic high fantasy novel written by English author and scholar J. R. R. Tolkien. Set in Middle-earth, the story began as a sequel to Tolkien's 1937 children's book ''The Hobbit'' but eventually d ...
'', ''
The Hobbit'', the
''Legend of S'', and ''
A Wrinkle in Time
''A Wrinkle in Time'' is a young adult science fantasy novel written by American author Madeleine L'Engle. First published in 1962, the book won the Newbery Medal, the Sequoyah Book Award and the Lewis Carroll Shelf Award, and was runner-u ...
''.
Summer

Wānaka is host to outdoor recreation and tourism activities with
hiking
A hike is a long, vigorous walk, usually on trails or footpaths in the countryside. Walking for pleasure developed in Europe during the eighteenth century. Long hikes as part of a religious pilgrimage have existed for a much longer time.
"Hi ...
,
mountain biking,
mountaineering
Mountaineering, mountain climbing, or alpinism is a set of outdoor activities that involves ascending mountains. Mountaineering-related activities include traditional outdoor climbing, skiing, and traversing via ferratas that have become mounta ...
,
rock climbing
Rock climbing is a climbing sports discipline that involves ascending climbing routes, routes consisting of natural rock in an outdoor environment, or on artificial resin climbing walls in a mostly indoor environment. Routes are documented in c ...
,
fishing
Fishing is the activity of trying to catch fish. Fish are often caught as wildlife from the natural environment (Freshwater ecosystem, freshwater or Marine ecosystem, marine), but may also be caught from Fish stocking, stocked Body of water, ...
,
paragliding,
kayaking
Kayaking is the use of a kayak for moving over water. It is distinguished from canoeing by the sitting position of the paddler and the number of blades on the paddle. A kayak is a low-to-the-water, canoe-like boat in which the paddler sits fac ...
,
rafting
Rafting and whitewater rafting are recreational outdoor activities which use an inflatable raft to navigate a river or other body of water. This is often done on whitewater or different degrees of rough water. Dealing with risk is often a ...
,
jetboating, and environmental activities. Wānaka has a sunny climate and serves as an access point to the highest New Zealand mountain outside of the
Aoraki / Mount Cook region:
Mount Aspiring / Tititea.
Mount Aspiring National Park is popular for mountaineering and hiking. Tourists enjoy day trips into the park and many tourists go hiking in the park for up to a week at a time. Parts of the Matukituki Valley on the road to the park are popular for rock climbing, and for day walks.
Lake Wānaka itself is popular for
waterskiing,
wakeboarding
Wakeboarding is a water sport in which the rider, standing on a wakeboard (a board with foot bindings), is towed behind a motorboat across its wake and especially up off the crest in order to perform aerial maneuvers. A hallmark of wakeboarding ...
and
sailing
Sailing employs the wind—acting on sails, wingsails or kites—to propel a craft on the surface of the ''water'' (sailing ship, sailboat, raft, Windsurfing, windsurfer, or Kitesurfing, kitesurfer), on ''ice'' (iceboat) or on ''land'' (Land sa ...
. This along with the local rivers provide many opportunities for fishing. There is a dedicated mountain biking area made by volunteers in a local pine forest. Adjacent to the bike park is an 18-hole disc golf course. All the local ski resorts are open for mountain biking and hiking in the summer.
Winter

Wānaka has the broadest range of snow activity choices of any town in New Zealand. These include
Treble Cone,
Cardrona Alpine Resort and
Snow Farm, some of New Zealand's premier commercial
ski fields. Wānaka is the main accommodation provider for these resorts and so is very busy in high season (July–September).
Winter in Wānaka is also the home to a variety of winter sporting events including everything from the annual free Winter Games to the
Merino Muster.
Treble Cone has good lift-accessed terrain and for this reason has become popular amongst visitors, 'ConeHeads'. It also catches some of the better snow in the area, with its location and orientation getting more snow from NW storms.
Cardrona is more attractive to families and beginners, though an attempt has been made at the
park
A park is an area of natural, semi-natural or planted space set aside for human enjoyment and recreation or for the protection of wildlife or natural habitats. Urban parks are urban green space, green spaces set aside for recreation inside t ...
riding population in competition with SnowPark. Snowpark is a dedicated 100% artificial terrain park for advanced riders. Snow Farm is New Zealand's only commercial cross-country ski field.
Cardrona also hosts one of the few Olympic-sized
half-pipes in the world and has been used for practice for Olympic competition.
Amenities
File:Wanaka Community Hub.jpg, Wānaka Community Hub
File:Pembroke Park Wanaka.jpg, Skateboard park, Pembroke Park
File:Mt Aspiring VC 27.jpg, Mt Aspiring visitor centre
Swimming pool
The Wānaka Recreation Centre has a 25 metre lap pool, a 20 metre learners pool and hot pool for adults. It is located at 41 Sir Tim Wallis Drive. The swimming complex was opened in 2018 and cost $12.8 million.
Wānaka Community Hub
The Wānaka Community Hub is home to 25 community organisations. The building includes a hall, foyer and offices. The build cost $3.8 million and was opened in October 2021.
Library
The Wānaka Library is in Dunmore Street. As well as an extensive collection of books and ebooks, audiobooks and newspapers, the library provides Wi-Fi, printing, copying and computer facilities. After issues with freedom campers in 2016, signs in the Wānaka Library ask people not to bathe or wash dishes in the toilets.
Golf course
The Wānaka golf course, located on Ballantye Road, was established in 1922. A further nine holes were added to the course in 1967 to make it an 18 hole golf course. The Wanaka Golf Club has around 950 members.
Tititea/Mount Aspiring National Park visitor centre
The Tititea/
Mount Aspiring National Park visitor centre is located on the corner of Ardmore St and Ballentyne Rd. It provides advice about walking and hiking in the national park and information about the huts, campsites, weather and heritage sites. There is also a small museum display of the history, fauna and flora of the national park within the visitor centre.
Pembroke Park
Pembroke Park covers on the foreshore of Lake Wānaka. The majority of the park is grass fields, with a skate park and 136 carparks close to the town centre.
Originally known as "The Commonage", the park was surveyed in 1875 and 1880. A nine-hole golf course was established on the park by 1920, with barbed wire to keep the cows out. From 1940, the
New Zealand Electricity Department
The Electricity Corporation of New Zealand Ltd (ECNZ), also known as Electricorp is a New Zealand state-owned enterprise (SOE) formed on 1 April 1987, as a transition entity in the process of deregulating the New Zealand electricity market. Mo ...
held the park with the thought that Lake Wānaka might be used for hydro-electricity production. It was designated as a recreational reserve in 1971, managed by Lake County Council, (which later became the Queenstown-Lakes District Council).
The establishment of the parking lot in Pembroke Park in 2000 was controversial, as one of its management objectives is "to preserve in perpetuity Pembroke Park as a recreational area for the enjoyment of the people of Wanaka and visitors".
Notable buildings
File:St Colombas Wanaka.jpg, St Columba's Anglican Church
File:Chalmers' Cottage 27 Wanaka.jpg, Chalmers' Cottage
File:Wanaka War memorial.jpg, War Memorial
File:Wānaka Dinosaur Slide.jpg, Dinosaur slide
File:Wanaka watersports building.jpg, Watersports facility
File:Wanaka Catholic Church.jpg, Holy Family Catholic Church
Saint Columba's Anglican Church
Saint Columba's was built in 1902 and completed in 1911. It is a category 2 historic place.
Chalmers' cottage
Chalmers' cottage is a grade 2 listed building. It was built in the 1870s for Archibald Chalmers, who was a butcher based in Wānaka.
Wānaka War Memorial
The Wānaka War Memorial commemorates the twenty seven soldiers from the area that died in
World War I
World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...
and the nine that died in
World War II
World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...
. It is located on Chalmers Street.
Dinosaur slide
The dinosaur slide built by the Wānaka Jaycees in 1976 is a well known fixture at the lakefront playground in Wānaka.
Wānaka watersports facility
Described as having a "richly textured and contoured façade
hichbelies the tough functional requirements demanded by a project realised in a sensitive environmental zone", the Wānaka watersports facility was the winner of the 2020 Southern Architecture Awards. It is used by the Wānaka Rowing Club Rowing Club, Wanaka Lake Swimmers and TriWanaka. The facility gained resource consent in 2016 despite 744 submitters opposing the build.
Holy Family Catholic Church
Holy Family Catholic Church was built in 2011 and its organic form was designed to allude to the mountains that surround it. The church replaced the previous church in Brownston Street. It is located next to the Holy Family School.
Education
Wānaka has four schools.
*Holy Family School is a
state-integrated Catholic full primary (Year 1–8) school, and has students. The school was established in 2006.
*
Mount Aspiring College is a state Year 7–13 secondary school, and has students. The school was established in 1986 following the split of Wanaka Area School.
*Wānaka Primary School is a state contributing primary (Year 1–6) school and has students. The school was established in 1986 following the split of Wanaka Area School and relocated to its current site in October 2010.
*Te Kura O Take Kārara is a state contributing primary school, and has students. The schools was established in 2020, providing capacity for more primary school aged children as Wānaka's population grows.
All these schools are coeducational. Rolls are as of
Infrastructure and services
Transport
Wānaka is served by the
Wānaka Airport as well as by roads over the Crown Range, through the
Haast Pass/Tioripatea to the
West Coast, to
Mount Cook Village via the
Lindis Pass to the north, and south through
Cromwell by .
There are daily bus services to
Christchurch
Christchurch (; ) is the largest city in the South Island and the List of cities in New Zealand, second-largest city by urban area population in New Zealand. Christchurch has an urban population of , and a metropolitan population of over hal ...
,
Dunedin
Dunedin ( ; ) is the second-most populous city in the South Island of New Zealand (after Christchurch), and the principal city of the Otago region. Its name comes from ("fort of Edin"), the Scottish Gaelic name for Edinburgh, the capital of S ...
,
Queenstown and
Greymouth
Greymouth () (Māori language, Māori: ''Māwhera'') is the largest town in the West Coast, New Zealand, West Coast List of regions in New Zealand, region in the South Island of New Zealand, and the seat of the Grey District Council. The populat ...
.
During the late 19th century, unsuccessful Bills were introduced to Parliament to enable the extension of the
Otago Central Railway from its terminus at
Taieri Lake to Wānaka and
Lake Hāwea. The proposal to extend the railway, which had since already been extended to Cromwell, was again unsuccessfully revived in the early 20th century. The main reason for
NZR's reluctance was having to cross the Clutha River twice. A more direct route to Hāwea was planned but dropped due to cost.
Utilities
Aurora Energy operates the electricity distribution network in and around Wānaka. Electricity is fed from
Transpower's national grid at Cromwell to Wānaka via twin 66,000-volt lines.
Fresh water for the town is drawn from Lake Wānaka via two inlets and treated by chlorination prior to distribution. Since 2008, the water supply has had issues with
Didymo "rock snot" algae entering the system and building up, clogging filters and household plumbing. The Queenstown-Lakes District Council planned to add protozoal treatment to the water supply in 2024.
Commerce
In late 2021, Wānaka became home to the smallest Countdown supermarket in New Zealand. It will provide increased competition in the supermarket trade for Wānaka.
Resource consent was approved for a film studio development in 2021. The film studio is expected to cost $280 million and will include up to 10 sound stages, an 11 hectare lake, an Italian village and replicas of parts of Venice, Paris and New York City.
Notable people
*
Tim Wallis
Sir Timothy William Wallis (9 September 1938 – 17 October 2023) was a New Zealand businessman and aviation entrepreneur. He pioneered live deer capture from helicopters, which led to a significant industry in New Zealand. He was a leader and ...
– A pilot and businessman, started
Warbirds over Wanaka,
and has a street named after him in the town: Sir Tim Wallis Drive.
*
Nico Porteous – New Zealand's youngest Olympic medallist
*
Zoi Sadowski-Synnott – New Zealand's first winter Olympic gold medallist
References
External links
Wānaka promotions siteWarbirds over Wanaka website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Wānaka
Queenstown-Lakes District
Populated places in Otago
Climbing areas of New Zealand
Populated lakeshore places in New Zealand