About

Welcome to the relaxed luxury and homely charm that is Wanaka Homestead. Privately owned and welcoming just 21 guests, the hospitality is warm & attentive, yet discreet.

Situated next to the resplendent Wanaka Station Park on the shores of Lake Wanaka, Wanaka Homestead offers the choice of boutique accommodation in the Homestead Lodge or self-catering in the family-friendly Ruby Cottage and Lismore Cottage. Wanaka Homestead also warmly welcomes groups that wish to have full use of Wanaka Homestead.

Superbly located, Wanaka Homestead is a stone’s throw from Lake Wanaka and the infamous Wanaka Tree, an easy stroll to the vibrant Wanaka township and a splendid short drive to awe-inspiring vistas and adrenaline-inducing landscapes.

In Wanaka Station Park – our ‘front yard’ – you will find a beautiful, hidden, green park space with a small children’s playground, giant sequoias, Himalayan cedars, a large walnut tree and an enormous rhododendron hedge along with the Station’s surviving orchard, with pears and apples free for picking. Towering redwoods and a rose arbor featuring heirloom roses popular in the early 1900s will lead you down to the shores of Wanaka Lake – and the Wanaka Tree – and to the start of seemingly endless stunningly beautiful walking tracks.

History

Wanaka Homestead was built on the site where the sheds & outbuildings of Wanaka Station once stood. The sheds serviced this expansive sheep station which covered the town area and beyond to Cardrona before the Wanaka township was born.

While history-laden and character-filled, the Station’s sheds & outbuildings were dilapidated, deemed unsafe, and destined for landfill. Saddened by the thought and respectful of the past, the original owners of the Wanaka Homestead site sensitively rescued and repurposed the sheds’ native Beech and Rimu of yesteryear into furnishings, stairway, fixings & fences in the Wanaka Homestead of today.

Today

Wanaka Homestead is owned by New Zealander, Kaalene Shale, and her Scottish Highlander husband, Allan McAndie. Parents to young twin boys, it was the Wanaka lifestyle, strong community feeling and the connection to the great outdoors that attracted them to the area.

Having studied in Dunedin and traveled extensively around the South Island, Kaalene kept being pulled back to Wanaka for its breathtaking landscape, the lake & the warm, welcoming people. From a small town in Scotland, Allan felt exactly the same way after just one visit. The result, is Wanaka Homestead. Small and lovingly run, the Homestead prides itself on providing a warm, friendly welcome, and a home away from home for all who walk through the front door.