See-saws! Swings! Slides! On Magazine’s round-up of Wanaka’s best playgrounds. The Dinosaur Park Corner of Ardmore St and Lakeside Rd A Wanaka classic, the Dinosaur Park underwent a $350 000 upgrade in 2004. New swings, a “Spiderman” rope tower and all sorts of things that spin were added, and the dinosaur slide got a spiffy new coat of paint. The […]

  It’s the “accent aigu” most people notice first. Poised above the final “e”, the French acute accent has been added to the Luggate highway sign, changing its pronunciation to “Luggat-eh”. Occasionally someone, presumably a New Zealand Transport Agency employee, scrapes it off. But someone, presumably a local, stubbornly puts it back. Bienvenue a Luggaté! Located on State Highway 8 […]

Beat a retreat to Bannockburn. Fancy a road trip with a friend or beau? Fuel up and put the foot down for Bannockburn, the not-so-sleepy goldmining town of yesteryear, now basking in anew golden era of viticulture and foodie heaven. Just 45 minutes down the line from Wanaka, Bannockburn is an ideal hub from which to visit the award-winning vineyards […]

The end of summer does not mean the end of outdoor fun. Here are five cool things for kids to do in Wanaka in Autumn. 1) Go for a walk along the Outlet Track and collect as many differently-coloured leaves as you can find. Glue them onto a piece of paper to make pictures. Try to make a sun, a […]

It’s cosy yet edgy, both rugged and dreamy, and it’s coming soon to a lounge near you. Local Wanaka couple Amanda Dorset and Ben Wilson have designed and developed the world’s first Shaggy Bag – a simply gorgeous shortwool sheepskin beanbag which takes the idea of luxurious relaxation to the next level. Available in a palette of Central Otago hues […]

In his 1947 poem Night in Tarras, poet James K Baxter described the “hot white road by Tarras” as “where a shadeless sun beats down on range and river, scorching snowgrass brown”. Wanaka writer JULIA ATKINSON headed up highway 8A to see what she’d find in Tarras today. Just a casual 25-minute cruise through the rural landscape east of Wanaka […]