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Wānaka

Climbing areas of New ZealandPages with Māori IPAPopulated lakeshore places in New ZealandPopulated places in OtagoQueenstown-Lakes District
Use New Zealand English from October 2014Wānaka
Wanaka, East with mountain
Wanaka, East with mountain

Wānaka (Māori pronunciation: [ˈwaːnaka]) is a popular ski and summer resort town in the Otago region of the South Island of New Zealand. At the southern end of Lake Wānaka, 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 pounamu (greenstone) on the West Coast. Ngāi Tahu abandoned their seasonal camps after a raid by a North Island war party in 1836. The current town was founded as Pembroke during the gold rush 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.

Excerpt from the Wikipedia article Wānaka (License: CC BY-SA 3.0, Authors, Images).

Wānaka
Galleria di Piazza San Marco, Venedig Venezia-Murano-Burano

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Wikipedia: WānakaContinue reading on Wikipedia

Geographical coordinates (GPS)

Latitude Longitude
N -44.7 ° E 169.15 °
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Address

Piazza San Marco

Galleria di Piazza San Marco
30124 Venedig, Venezia-Murano-Burano
Venetien, Italien
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Wanaka, East with mountain
Wanaka, East with mountain
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Warbirds over Wanaka
Warbirds over Wanaka

Warbirds over Wanaka is a biennial air show in Wānaka, held on the Easter weekend of even-numbered years since 1988. It is held at Wānaka Airport, 10 km south-east of Wānaka, in the southern South Island of New Zealand. Initially conceived by New Zealand live deer recovery pioneer, Sir Tim Wallis, as a show for him to display his collection of World War II aircraft, the event has grown into a major institution. Roads are closed and traffic is detoured around the area during the weekend. Hotels, motels and backpackers around Wānaka are usually booked well in advance (two years ahead). Accommodation is impossible to find if one does not have a booking. A large contingent of historic and contemporary aircraft of note from all over New Zealand and the world converges on Wānaka each second Easter for the air show. Numerous aviation personalities from all over the world attend Warbirds over Wanaka, Gen Chuck Yeager and Buzz Aldrin being the most notable of recent times. The mainstays of the display have traditionally been the aircraft from Sir Tim's Alpine Fighter Collection, based at the New Zealand Fighter Pilots' Museum. However, this collection is currently (2006) in the process of being broken up. A new charitable trust has been established to run the event in the future. At Easter on the alternate (odd) years a similar air show is held at Omaka air field in Blenheim in the northern South Island, under the title of Classic Fighters. Its emphasis is on World War I aircraft including as many as seven Fokker Dr.I triplanes. Also on alternate (odd) years Wings over Wairarapa airshow is held at Hood Aerodrome, Masterton, in the North Island. It is traditional for RNZAF aircraft heading to Wānaka for the airshow to perform aerial displays over the cities of Christchurch and Dunedin on their journey to the show.

Crown Range
Crown Range

The Crown Range is a mountain range that lies to the east of the Wakatipu Basin in Otago, New Zealand. It is noted for two features, the Cardrona Alpine Resort, on the slopes of the 1900 metre Mount Cardrona, and a highway, known as the Crown Range Road (formerly State Highway 89), which winds steeply between Arrow Junction, just south of Arrowtown, and Wānaka to the north. Travelling from Arrowtown towards Wānaka, the Crown Range Road starts at the bottom of the "zig zag". This steep and winding section climbs to the Crown Terrace, a large flat and fertile area capable of growing grain crops. To the left, Glencoe Road leads to Glencoe Station, the large high country station behind Arrowtown. At the end of the Crown Terrace is the Eastburn Road to Eastburn Station, which runs from the Glencoe boundary almost to Cardrona. Just past the Eastburn Road the road twists and climbs up to the Crown Saddle, where a bronze plaque at the vista point claims that this historic summit, at 1076 m (3530 ft) is the highest sealed road in New Zealand. Officially it is the highest sealed local road and the highest sealed pass or through road, 2m higher than the Desert Road summit on State Highway 1 in the North Island.Eastburn Station has provided a number of viewing areas. The distant views down and over Lake Hayes, Arrowtown and the airport to Queenstown are stunning. From the Crown Saddle the road follows the Cardrona creek which becomes the Cardrona River flowing down the iconic snow tussock valley until it opens out at the small settlement of Cardrona. The area was heavily populated during the Central Otago goldrush of the 1860s, the town of Cardrona, now little more than a dot on the map, briefly having a population of several thousand prospectors. There are visible remains of gold prospecting beside the Crown Range Road over the saddle on the west bank opposite the East Burn Stream two miles over the saddle, also six miles below the saddle on the east bank. In 2001, the last section of the Crown Range Road was sealed by the Queenstown Lakes District Council.