Day 9 – Wanaka

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Today was a bit of a slow day again, as we creep ever so closer to Christmas Day.  We started the day early, around 7am as Jake was up and Damian followed not long after.  I managed to keep the boys occupied a little while (until sometime after 8am) so Toni could get a bit of a sleep in.  After a lazy breakfast, we eventually got ready and headed out the door around 10am. 

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Our first (and only) planned stop was near the Wanaka airport – a place called

The National Transport Toy Museum

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It costs NZD $15/Adult in admission (kids under 5 free), and for this sum you gain access to a number of aviation hangers which are almost jam packed full of heritage/antique planes, cars and other things of a bygone era.  We start in the shop/museum which houses the majority of the toy part of the museum. 

Toy Museum

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Papa Smurf greeted the boys at the entrance, and inside there were a collection of vintage cars surrounded by glass cases containing all manner of toys from the past five or six decades.  They were loosely grouped into categories, and there were three or four aisles before it broke out into a very large Star Wars/Toys of the 80s section.  I’ll let the photos do the talking.

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There were also Barbie and figurine displays as well as more and more cars, including this Ferrari, and this ‘furry’ number..

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In the next hangar was a massive collection of vintage cars but also heaps and heaps of old fire trucks, most from the 1970s or earlier.

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In the next hangar there was a distinctively military theme intermixed with heaps more classic jalopies.  The highlight was the massive plane which occupied a huge portion of the hangar area.

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In the final hangar, more planes and classic cars, but some woofers too, like a mid-80s Laser.  The highlights were some very early cars (1910s), an F.J Holden and a car which had attempted the world speed record!

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We finished off the visit in the playground outside the cafe/shop, where Jake and Damian engaged all their skills to navigate a hodge-podge of equipment.

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Once we’d finished, we had about an hour to kill, so we headed back into town, and veered slightly north to arrive just a bit above Beacon Point. 

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Here we found a beautiful part of the lake with crystal clear water where Jake and I went into the lake up to our knees whilst Damian and Toni looked on.  We lingered a little while as I took a few photos before returning to the resort.

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Back to the resort

Back at the Wyndham, Jake was chomping at the bit to get back into the pool, so we got everyone into swimming gear and went promptly downstairs.  We spent about 15 minutes in the pool before our friends Toni and Matt arrived from Queenstown, and joined us in the pool.  We had a fun time going down the water slide and taking turns with Jake and Damian, helping them to swim (or launching them into the air).

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Once we’d been in for about a half hour or more, we all got out and went up to the room and got changed.  We all went into town and parked opposite the lake.  We walked across the road to a cafe and had lunch there, which was quite nice – pulled beef burger with hoisin sauce!

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Lakeside Photography

Toni (not wife Toni) and I spent some time practicing photography against the backdrop of Lake Wanaka whilst Matt, Wife Toni and the boys went to a nearby kid’s playground.  After a bit of moving around, we all ended up back in front of a large hand which graces the lakeside.

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While everyone caught a brief shady respite from the warm sun, I took Jake back to the park and watched him navigate a giant dinosaur slide.

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We crossed the road again and obtained some delicious gelato to cool us as the day started to ease into late afternoon.

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We eventually headed back to the resort for some more pool time and as it hit around 6pm ended up back in the room as Toni and Matt bid us farewell.  Once the boys were fed and ultimately put to bed, Toni and I enjoyed a Christmas Eve BBQ dinner on the balcony of the room as the sun slowly shrunk behind the mountains.

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Map of our itinerary today

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Check back for a Christmas Day edition tomorrow!

Trip Index

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Next post Day 10 – Wanaka & Christmas Day 2014

2 thoughts on “Day 9 – Wanaka”

  1. You are certainly finding some interesting places. Jake might have realised by now how cold the lake water is, by the look on his face.

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