A Beautiful Time To Visit
Autumn is a particularly beautiful time to visit Wanaka, New Zealand. The trees are turning beautiful shades of yellow, orange and red, and on a calm day, the reflections on the lake and river are amazing. This year, only the residents of Wanaka are able to enjoy these views, as the country remains in lockdown due to the COVID-19 coronavirus pandemic sweeping the world.
When New Zealand prime minister Jacinda Adern announced the country would be entering a 4-week lockdown to try and stop the spread of COVID-19, it sparked a shockwave throughout the country. Here in Wanaka, as was the case in many communities throughout New Zealand, people headed straight to the supermarket on a mission to stock up their pantries and cupboards with enough food and supplies to last four weeks.
In reality (and I think many people realised this within the first week of lockdown) panic buying was unnecessary. Supermarkets and pharmacies have remained open, shelves stocked up with everything you might need. A designated shopper per household has been able to go and buy food for everyone, and meal times have continued as normal (or as normal as possible in this crazy situation!).
Lockdown hasn’t meant not being able to leave the house. We’ve been allowed to go out for exercise in our local neighbourhoods – and believe me, here in Wanaka we have a stunning backyard to explore! With so many tracks and trails to choose from, we’re very lucky to have such a beautiful lockdown location, with ample opportunity to get out in the fresh air.
The Release Wanaka team live all over the place – some of us in Wanaka, some in Albert Town and some in Luggate. We have been sharing photos from our daily walks with each other, and here are some of them, to show why Wanaka is the best place to be for lockdown. And guess what – it’s not going anywhere, and will be an awesome destination for a domestic holiday when this crazy situation is over.
Easter this year was a busy one for us at Release Wanaka, with Warbirds over Wanaka bringing in lots of additional tourists keen to enjoy an Easter weekend in Wanaka. We are sad the many guests we had booked were unable to come and experience these beautiful autumnal scenes for themselves, but there is always next year!
In the next few weeks, we’ll be announcing some fantastic winter deals for domestic travellers looking for their ‘stay-cation’ destination, so keep an eye out!
Release Wanaka
We look forward to seeing you all in Wanaka soon. Contact us here to discuss your next trip to Wanaka.
Kia kaha.