Our summer holiday with my parents continued on from Lake Tekapo to Wanaka (the journey starts here), driving via the Lindis Pass.
It was a murky day, not the best for stopping and taking photographs, but nevertheless the Lindis Pass had a hauntingly desolate beauty about it.
The Lindis Pass links the Mackenzie Basin with Central Otago. The actual pass crosses a saddle between the valleys of the Lindis and Ahuriri Rivers at an altitude of 971 metres above sea level.
The tussock grass clings to the land with stoic determination, telling of the high altitude.
As we approached Wanaka the clouds lifted and a lavender farm caught our attention (more so the alpacas for young Alice!).
The Wanaka Lavender Farm is a wonderful place to stop in for a cup of tea and a stroll. We enjoyed lavender tea (had to be done) and fresh muffins. The shop sells a wonderful array of products from the farm, derived from lavender, honey and the alpaca fur (which Alice insisted on buying a bag of, which we later ‘felted’ to make a table mat – finding a YouTube tutorial to teach us!).
The grounds are beautifully landscaped with places to stop, inhale and enjoy the scenery, as the farm is situated on raised land surrounded by distant mountains. Games of giant Jenga and Connect 4, alongside alpacas, kune kune pigs and bee hives, made for a delightful way to spend an hour or so.
Alice loved playing the giant connect 4 with her Grandfather. She couldn’t reach to the top to place in the coloured markers, so climbed instead – despite the offer of a helping hand (climbing just added to the fun of the game – and got harder the more the pieces filled the holes!).
We headed on from the Wanaka Lavender Farm to our place of accommodation for the next six nights – at Wanaka Luxury Apartments. The apartments have a lovely shared swimming pool, spa, outdoor fire place, BBQ and pizza oven. We felt instantly relaxed and enjoyed staying within a short walk of the main town and lake shore.