A little colour

On a cold wet windy morning, Sam and I went out to Roy's Bay you all know the one with the tree, I hadn't been in the park for a while and remembered that the Blue bells and Daf would be just coming into flower.

In the late 19th Century European settlers began to farm and permanently reside in the Wanaka area. Wanaka Station was huge, its sheep grazing most of the horizon from the head of Lake Wanaka to the Cardrona valley. Having the luxury of choice of location, Wanaka Station Homestead was constructed on fertile land in a sheltered corner of Roy’s Bay, just 60 metres from the site of the Wanaka Homestead.

Through the years, the station was subdivided many times and the beautiful weatherboard homestead burnt down twice. Today, photographs and its protected foundations are the only remaining clues to the past. While the township of Wanaka began to expand and thrive, the huge European and North American trees which had been planted around the homestead were maturing. To preserve these for enjoyment of all, Wanaka Station Park was created. Today the park remains peaceful and undulating, with a diverse range of trees from fruit to giant redwoods.

Adjacent to Wanaka Station Park, horse paddocks and a dilapidated but full-of-character shed remained until 1998 when the land was sub-divided. The shed, which was an out-building of the original homestead, was deemed structurally unsound and unsuitable for renovation. Nevertheless, the Wanaka Homestead, constructed on the site of this shed, sensitively re-used all recyclable components. The shed lives on, its wonderful native beech and rimu appearing in furniture, stairways, fixings and fences.