Wānaka

thumb|Wānaka east, with mountains in the background

Wānaka () 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 (greenstone) on the West Coast. Ngāi Tahu abandoned their seasonal camps after a raid by a North Island war party in 1836.

Along with the rest of the Queenstown-Lakes District, Wānaka is one of the fastest-growing towns in New Zealand, with the population tripling between 2000 and 2020.

Etymology

thumb|View of the Wānaka township (October 2021)

The name of the town comes from the lake it sits upon, Lake Wānaka. The town was originally named Wanaka but was changed just a month later to Pembroke, after the youngest son of the Earl of Pembroke, Sidney Herbert, who was the 1855 Colonial Secretary and a member of the Canterbury Association. On 1 September 1940 the name was changed back to Wanaka to reduce confusion between the names of the town and the lake.

Wānaka is the South Island dialect form of , which means 'sacred knowledge or a place of learning'. Edward Shortland reported the name as a corruption of or meaning 'place of Anake/Anaka', but that is disputed by Ngai Tahu who consider Oanaka to be a transcription error.

History

A Kāti Māmoe settlement at the site of modern Wānaka was named .

The area was invaded by the Ngāi Tahu in the early 18th century. Their settlement included a pā and a (food-gathering site) where pora ('Māori turnip'), , tuna (eels), and weka were gathered. Eels and birds were gathered at a lagoon on the Hāwea side of The Neck, which also supported gardens of potato and turnips.

Ngāi Tahu use of the land was ended by attacks by North Island tribes. In 1836, the Ngāti Tama chief Te Pūoho led a 100-person war party, armed with muskets, down the West Coast and over the Haast Pass. They fell on the Ngāi Tahu encampment between Lake Wānaka and Lake Hāwea, capturing ten people and killing and eating two children. Some of the Ngāi Tahu fled down the Waitaki river to the coast. Te Puoho took his captives over the Crown Range to Lake Wakatipu and thence to Southland where he was killed and his war party destroyed by the southern Ngāi Tahu leader Tūhawaiki.

The first known map of Lake Wānaka was drawn in 1844 by the southern Ngāi Tahu leader Te Huruhuru. Reko and Kaikōura showed Chalmers the rock bridge Whatatorere at Roaring Meg, which was the only place that the Kawarau River could be jumped over, and returned him down the Clutha in a reed boat – arguably the first recorded instance of adventure tourism in the region.

European settlement began in the Upper Clutha River Valley in the 1850s, with the establishment of sheep stations by runholders. The first station was at Albert Town, the only place where settlers could ford the Clutha River. The present site of Wānaka was first surveyed in 1863. Gold was discovered in the nearby Cardrona valley in 1862 with many joining the gold rush. Settlement increased in Pembroke during the 1870s because of timber milling in the Matukituki Valley that used Lake Wānaka for transport.

Mass tourism began in 1867 when Theodore Russell opened the first hotel, and with the world's first sheepdog trials. The first school in the area was opened in Albert Town in 1868. With the development of Treble Cone (1968) and Cardrona ski fields (1980), Wānaka grew in popularity as a winter destination.

Wānaka expanded rapidly in the early 2000s, with annual growth peaking at 11% in 2002 when the population reached 5,000 residents. The population passed 10,000 in 2014, and by 2025 had increased to over 18,000 people - over a third of the Queenstown-Lakes District.

Geography

thumb|left|250px|Wānaka cafe strip on a quiet clear spring dayThe town of Wānaka is at the southern end of Lake Wānaka on Roys Bay, and is surrounded by mountains. To the southwest are the Crown and Criffel Ranges and town of Queenstown, away. To the north the Haast Pass cuts through the Southern Alps near Makarora. To the northeast are the towns of Omarama and Twizel. Lake Wānaka comes within 1 km of the slightly smaller Lake Hāwea; they are separated only by rocky ridge called "The Neck". South of Wānaka, the wide Upper Clutha valley leads to Cromwell at the junction of the Kawarau and Clutha rivers.

Glendhu Bay is on the lake's western shore, close to the Matukituki River valley which gives access to the Mount Aspiring National Park.

The centre of the town lies on flat land beside Roys Bay. The town has expanded into the hills surrounding the centre and in both directions along the lake shore. The lakeside area of the town is prone to occasional flooding in spring when heavy rain and snowmelt can cause the lake to rise quickly, as in November 1999.

Climate

Despite New Zealand's mostly oceanic climate, Wānaka is one of the few areas in the country to enjoy a semi-continental climate, with four distinct seasons. The weather is fairly dry, with spring (September–December) being the wettest season. Annual rainfall is 682 mm which is half the national average. Wānaka's summers are warm, with temperatures reaching the high 20s and an average summer maximum of . Wānaka's highest-ever temperature of was recorded in January 2018.

Winter can be extreme by New Zealand standards with temperature mostly in the single digits during the day time followed by cold and frosty nights and frequent snowfalls.

Demography

Wānaka covers and had an estimated population of as of with a population density of people per km². It is the country's 43rd-largest urban area and the fifth-largest urban area in Otago behind Dunedin, Queenstown, Mosgiel and Oamaru.