A Week in Wanaka Getting High

The Highs

Wanaka is a town in the Otago region of the South Island. Not far from Queenstown, it’s located on the shores of Lake Wanaka. And Lake Wanaka is a ginormous and stunning blue lake that fills an old glacial valley. That means there is plenty of room to spread out on the flat valley floor and that the lake edge consists of steep, rocky mountains. It’s a great combination from any angle.

But Wanaka’s best angle is definitely from above. (And mine is from behind–the better to see my hair!)

Fortunately, there are lots of good ways to get up high. Skydiving and paragliding are two popular ways that I did NOT participate in. I prefer my feet to stay on the ground, thank you very much. That does mean it takes a bit more effort…

Isthmus Peak (3,700 ft of elevation gain)

It was an earlier start than I’m used to, but really not all that early in comparison. I parked my car by 8am, but I was not the first. Many people get up at 2am so as to be at the top for 5:30am sunrise. I’m not that dedicated!

Isthmus Peak is double the lakes. As I climbed and climbed and climbed, I had lovely views over the similarly large and vivid Lake Hawea. It wasn’t until I reached the very top that I got a look back over Lake Wanaka too. There is very little forest on the mountain, so the views are present the whole time. And they only grow better and better with each (always vertical) step!

Isthmus Peak is often cited as a substitute for Roy’s Peak, which is the most popular track in Wanaka. Roy’s Peak closes for a month during lambing season, so then Isthmus Peak vastly increases in popularity, but it’s also an alternative for people who don’t want to deal with the masses of people who hike Roy’s Peak.

I choose to hike Isthmus Peak first, and I’m glad I did. It was a lovely, strenuous hike in the high country; the sky and the lakes competed for the most beautiful blue. It was beautiful and I enjoyed it.

But two days later when I hiked Roy’s Peak, I was blown away.

Roy’s Peak (4,100 ft of elevation gain)

If anyone ever asks my opinion on Roy’s Peak versus Isthmus Peak, the answer is easy. Roy’s Peak all the way.

I started both hikes at 8am. Roy’s Peak was at least five times busier than Isthmus Peak, but the path is an old 4wd drive road, so I could easily pass the slower walkers and, yes, faster walkers could pass me. (It happens, Dad!)

A word of warning, if the bane of your existence is being asked to take photos of people, then avoid Roy’s Peak, but if you can put up with sharing the mountain, then (in my opinion) you absolutely can’t beat the views from the Roy’s Peak Lookout and from the summit. The islands and the snow capped peaks in the background–wonderful!

But you tell me:

Both hikes were lovely (though you know my preference).

And both were both steep slogs to the top. So I was very thrilled to find another beautiful hike with a far more level elevation profile.

The Lows

Wishbone Falls (0 ft of elevation gain)

So many of New Zealand’s waterfalls are a 5 to 10 minute walk from the road. Which is awesome as it makes it so easy to visit them. But sometimes I feel like I didn’t do enough to really deserve the beauty. That doesn’t stop me from enjoying it though.

To reach Wishbone Falls and the below track, I had to drive for almost an hour on gravel roads through a private high country farm station. Wishbone Falls and countless other unnamed waterfalls cascade down the peaks and into the valleys–all owned by a family. Incredible. I can’t imagine having such a claim to so beautiful and vast a landscape.

West Matukituki Track (300 ft of elevation gain)

This track lead through more of the farm station and into Mount Aspiring National Park. Thankfully, for my tired legs, it was a wonderful (flat) stroll through a stunning glacial valley with a tucked away waterfall.

So, the hiking in Wanaka, both steep and flat, was amazing. But the absolute best thing I did…

The Highlight

Wildwire (1,100 ft of elevation gain)

The stunning Twin Falls, just twenty minutes by car from Wanaka, are on private land (again, imagine owning stunning waterfalls?). The only way to get close to these beautiful waterfalls is with a guided tour, and the only tour is with Wildwire Wanaka. But, for once, I didn’t want to just look at the waterfall and enjoy from afar.

With Wildwire, I was going to get up close and personal with the waterfalls (and also with my absolutely rational slight fear of heights).

I was going to climb the waterfall.

When I arrived, the guides immediately kitted us out with helmets and harnesses and a few words of warning.

“Don’t bring your keys. Don’t bring your passports. Don’t bring your phones or cameras unless you have a strap. Anything you drop–it’s gone.”

Then it was right into the safety briefing and the practice climbing.

Finally, we were ready. “This is the point of no return,” said my guide.

Onward and upward!

There were four people per guide, and we spaced out on the cliff, giving the group ahead of us plenty of time to get high before we started climbing. Via ferrata means iron path because it’s not simply rock climbing. Metal brackets are secured into the rock, so it’s like climbing a ladder. However, sometimes that ladder goes diagonally or horizontally. Sometimes there are metal bars for your hands but not your feet, or vice versa.

I quickly fell into a rhythm, remembering the most important part of the safety brief: “Always have two points of contact.” To explain, I had three carabiners on cords hanging from my harness. Two were longer and on stretchy cords while the third was short and on a safety line. (Basically, it was a coiled piece of flat line, like what feeds into a ratchet strap, that’s stitched so that if you fall, the stitches pull free in an effort to slow your fall. I had no interest in testing that!)

Along with having fun, my job was to climb and to make sure I was always hooked in–two points of contact!

So, secured into the rock beside the row of metal bars are a series of thick metal cables–the two long-strap carabiners hook onto the cable and slide along with me as I climb. But when the cable ends and the next begins, I take the third and shortest carabiner, hook it to the metal bar my hands are gripping, and then transfer the two long-strap carabiners (one at a time) to the next cable. Then I unhook the short carabiner from the metal bar and am on my way again. Until the next transfer point, about four ladder rungs later. So it’s a constant series of clipping in and out and in and out. While you balance on a metal bar further and further above the ground!

From afar, the falls look like they’re coming down a sheer cliff, but up close, it’s a series of shorter waterfalls falling into a basin, flowing a few feet (ten to thirty) and then falling down again in a short burst, and flowing a bit again. So it’s both a falls and a steep canyon. Sometimes were used bridges to cross to the other side of the canyon and other times we would reach a ledge, then step from rock to rock to get across, but the whole time we climbed beside the waterfall, misted by it’s spray.

I loved the climbing, the rhythm of clipping in and out, the beauty of the waterfalls and the distance dropping away beneath me. The path was varied enough and each section of waterfall different enough that I never got bored. And I felt very safe. And then we reached a section where there were no metal bars at all. It was true rock climbing, clambering up the natural crevices in the rock. Then, at another section, I had to grip the metal cable my carabiners were clicked on to and traverse a slanted surface, thus leaning out into the void with my feet braced. The waterfall thundered beside me, hitting solid rock twenty meters below. That got my heart pumping and my brain demanding to know what the hell I was doing.

I hadn’t realized how secure the metal bars made me feel until they were gone. I was hooked in the same and it was just as safe, but suddenly the thing that made me feel safe was gone!

As we climbed, the guide coaxed us into being more adventurous. By chance, my group of four was made up of the youngest people on the tour, and I would say we were the most adventurous. At least, the other three in my group were and I had to be by necessity.

On one wood and cable bridge we crossed, our guide talked us into hooking on and leaning out to each side at a 45 degree angle to the earth far below. But the true challenge for a girl who loves her feet to be on solid ground (or solid metal) was the free hang on the cable bridge.

I was the last of the group, and the three people ahead of me clipped in, leaned over, and free their hands and feet to hang into the void above a crashing waterfall. So, of course, I had to do it too!

The secret is not to think about what you’re doing until the moment you do it, and then DON’T LOOK DOWN.

That’s definitely the fastest my heart has beat in an awfully long time…but I did it!

We spent about three hours on the cliff, though we stopped for a few short breaks. My hands were just starting to feel a little raw from gripping so many metal bars, but then we scrambled over the last ledge and stood beneath the tallest section of waterfall so far. Instead of climbing it, this was our end point. So the group went for a triumphant dip in the falls (though we were the only group to do so!).

In all, we’d only barely climbed half way up the left branch of Twin Falls. The via ferrata route does go all the way to the top, but that requires a helicopter to descend and I am not made of money! It was actually the perfect amount of climbing and challenge both physically and mentally. My Wildwire via ferrata experience is, so far, sharing the top spot for Best Thing I Did in New Zealand. (If you’re curious, it’s sharing with the dolphin swim experience in Kaikoura).

A few months ago, my parents discovered and did a via ferrata route in Colorado, so I’m looking forward to doing that when I return home. I’m very lucky to get to travel to New Zealand and have the chance to challenge myself with amazing experience. But I’m even luckier to live (and love living) somewhere where the adventure doesn’t end upon returning home.