New Zealand | Part 3 : Day trip to Wanaka

click here if you wanna read about part 2

before i proceed, may i warn you that this post will be heavily loaded with pictures.

on the second day of our stay in South Island NZ, we decided to go for a daytrip to wanaka. fyi, wanaka is about two hours drive from queenstown. but trust me, the journey was totally worth it cause the views maaan. the views is insanely stunning!!

initially, my one and only reason for including wanaka in our itinerary was to find the instagram famous 'that wanaka tree'. sebab tu je. hahah sangat takde kerja. i've been following countless instas of digital travel nomad in new zealand since three/four years ago and you know what, almost all of them featured this perfect scenic picture of 'that wanaka tree' in their feed. so when i finally got the chance to explore this country of course i made a mission to find it. 

the question is... do i managed to find it?

dun dun dun

i'll get back to this later ya?

that morning after having our breakfast, we set for wanaka. about an hour drive from queenstown we stopped at lake county council lookout. how picturesque is this..? ni pun the photo doesn't do justice to the view. luckily i was not driving at that time. cause if i were, silap haribulan kereta boleh melencong sebab asyik tengok tepi je. heheh. oh before i forgot, nak tahu tak, sebab terlalu overexcited dan terkesima with the view, me being a clumsy person jatuh dua/tiga kali sebab mata asyik tengok benda lain je, ahahah

this is the first time when i almost fall backwards. kononnya, nak ambil gambar duduk atas palang ni. sekali haaa almost nak tergolek kebelakang. ahahah

since safety is first. kita berdiri je lah. ahahah

we then continued our journey to wanaka via the crown range road. the drive was incredibly wonderful since we get to see different landscapes along the way. at first i didn't expect to see snow in the mountains cause we came here during late winter time. but hey surprise suprise, ada rezeki nak tengok real snow even kat tepi jalan. 

casually freezing my bum off sebab jakun first time jumpa snow

after driving for about two hours, we finally arrived at our destination, Wanaka. btw, do you guys remember bout my 'that wanaka tree' plan? you know what? i totally forgot about that after seeing this...

MasyaAllah, look at the magnificent vista..

upon arriving we headed towards lake wanaka front. we didn't plan any adventurous activities ke apa. just free and easy 'lepak' session in front the lake while enjoying fresh local fruits. i could happily sit here and stare at this magnificent view for hours while contemplating about life. i lived for this kind of pleasure. hehe

i am so so thankful that i manage to explore and see Wanaka in person. the post that i usually see in my instagram feed did not do justice for this place. MasyaAllah, Wanaka is so amazing and the view is insanely gorgeous. By the way, the tourist crowd is not too huge so you can simply enjoy the view all to yourself. I enjoyed every single moment here in Wanaka. it kinds of make you feel calm and at ease and forget about all the crap happening in your life. hahah. i did not want to leave this place. seriously. it kinda feels like homeee. although technically my actual home is in Chenor.

there was this sinking feeling i had when leaving Wanaka,  because i'll never know when will i return again. half of my heart was left in this place. *cries a river* even after a year, i can still remember the feeling and vibe of this place every time i close my eyes. let's just hope and pray that i'll be able to visit Wanaka in the future insyaAllah. 

so these are my sincere thoughts and review after exploring Wanaka.  See you all i the next post

Zafirah xx