We had a low key, but enjoyable day today, staying around town.
We left the condo about noon, drove to the lakefront downtown, and Lauren got us a 12-inch sub from Subway to enjoy while we sat comfortably in our car and gazed at the beautiful scenery. We enjoyed watching the (other) tourists come down by the lake to take pictures, and we took a few ourselves. Whenever someone would come carrying food, the gulls would instantly spot them and flock around them hoping for a handout.
After lunch, we drove along the shoreline and found wonderful walking trails and parking spaces where you could enjoy the view from a different perspective.
At one spot, at a parking space just off an "unsealed" road, we discovered a young couple who had gotten their car stuck in some loose gravel near the water. Lauren was able to help by getting in their car and rocking it back and forth (stick shift) while they pushed from behind. We think they were a local couple, or at least a couple from this region. That was a nice twist for the day, that he could help someone like that.
There are multimillion dollar houses by the shoreline and just above, and as we drove away from the water, we discovered a tremendous number of new homes and areas being developed - big, beautiful, and modern homes. These new homes make use of glass freely, with almost a entire side or a major portion of an entry way made of clear glass or windows. These were not American tract homes.
We wondered who were buying these homes and where the money was coming from. This is a little tourist town. These did not look like celebrity homes. Ordinary cars were parked in the driveways of many occupied homes. These were not gated communities. We speculated that some might be being bought up by wealthy Asians, but we don't have any basis for that speculation. But we knew we might like to be the new owners of some of them. Lovely homes. Lovely town. Lovely views.
I searched the internet for a housing boom in Wanaka, and it seems this boom has been going on since 2002. Interesting!
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From
http://www.med.govt.nz/sectors-industries/tourism/tourism-research-data/international-travel/international-visitor-arrivals-commentary
International visitor arrivals commentary
Annual visitor arrivals increase five percent
There were 2.80 million visitor arrivals to New Zealand in the year ended August 2014. This was five per cent higher than in the year ended August 2013 (2.66 million).
Compared with the year ended August 2013, the biggest annual increases were from the three main source countries: Australia (up 45,000), the United States (up 21,400), and China (up 16,400). Germany (up 10,600) and Singapore (up 6,600) recorded the next biggest increases. By travel purpose, the biggest increase in annual visitor arrivals was for holidays (up 89,600) and visiting friends and relatives (up 33,400).
Trips by New Zealand residents in the year ended August 2014 (2.24 million) were up two per cent from the year ended August 2013 (2.18 million). Almost 50 per cent of all trips by New Zealand residents in the year ended August 2014 year were to Australia (1.07 million). The next most-visited destinations were the United States (156,500), Fiji (125,200), the United Kingdom (101,400), China (76,400), and the Cook Islands (76,300).
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