Tuesday, 21 October 2025
When we went into our bathroom this morning, we discovered that there are mountains out the back of our motel room. The cloud was obscuring them yesterday when we arrived, ha, ha. The weather was actually looking quite promising, so we made a plan that we would eat breakfast and then do the Mount Iron Track, a 4.5km loop trail just outside town.
Aargh, while we were eating breakfast, clouds blew in over the lake and it started to rain again. OK, revised plan, this morning we will visit Wanaka’s National Transport & Toy Museum because we will be in roofed buildings and the rain won’t matter. We drove out towards the airport and pulled into the car park, then headed into the main building to purchase our tickets to visit the collections put together by Gerald Rhodes over a period of 50 years. The collection(s) are touted as being one of the largest private collections in the world.
Starting in the Main Building we saw vintage cars and petrol bowsers, together with collections of bric-a-brac and 1,000s of toys. Bric-a-brac including: salt and pepper shakers, bottles, money boxes and flat irons. Toys such as: Meccano, Lego, Sylvanian Families, Star Wars, Barbies, dolls, doll houses, teddy bears, model cars and trains, die-cast toys and mechanical, clockwork and battery-operated toys.
We made our way outside between showers, to photograph some earth moving equipment, before entering the Fire Station building. This housed, you guessed it, fire engines, along with a selection of other trucks, tractors, cars, bicycles and scooters (hanging from the ceiling), household collectibles (mincers, sewing machines, clocks, radios, TVs, PCs, typewriters and movie projectors) and souvenir spoons – SO MANY souvenir spoons!
Next we ventured into Hangar One, where we found military and civilian aircraft, military vehicles and even more classic cars. A Ford Zephyr, lots of Vauxhalls, Jaguars, Daimlers, Wolseleys, Austins, Hillmans, Minis and Triumphs. There were some old ski-doos, buses, including a yellow school bus, and more earthmoving equipment. There were the instantly recognizable yellow Caterpillars, together with the alternate brand in earthmoving equipment, the lime green Terex earth movers.
And on to Hangar Two, which housed EVEN MORE vintage and classic cars, motorcycles, trucks, aircraft, boats, outboard motors, lawn mowers, chain saws and farm equipment. In this space we even found a couple of rickshaws and some horse carriages.
This really was an example of collecting on steroids. SO MUCH stuff it was rather overwhelming. It was hard to know where to look and all too easy to miss pieces. We had to backtrack a couple of times when each of us said, Did you see …? We had a bit of a crossover today with an earlier collection we visited in Invercargill, when we encountered a couple of vehicles that were used in the filming of ‘The World’s Fastest Indian’.
Minds completely blown by the sheer volume of things that we had seen, we made our way back to the Main Building. It must be a nightmare to visit with children because this building, that you enter and exit through, includes a HUGE toy shop. Imagine the pester power of kids who have just been frustrated at seeing an absolute treasure trove of toys they cannot touch, being confronted with shelves and cabinets full of toys available to buy??!
From the museum we drove to That Wanaka Tree. Bernie has been telling me about the tree for the last few days, that it is a tree growing in Lake Wanaka. Perhaps, sometimes, on the lakeshore but at this time of the year, IN the lake. I was imagining a BIG tree growing in the lake, so when I first spied something more like a sapling, I wondered if we had found the right tree. Heaps of people there photographing it though so – it must be THAT tree, right?
The tree is a bit of a happy accident. It started life over 80 years ago as a humble fence post – a willow branch planted in the lakebed to keep livestock in check. Today, it is a symbol of resilience, standing alone in the lake with the Southern Alps as its backdrop. The tree’s fame surged after a winning National Geographic photo in 2014 and its subsequent popularity on social media. All this exposure has led to it being one of the most photographed trees in the world. Yes, very photogenic but still … not as big as in my mind’s eye.
Lunchtime. Bernie fancied going to a bakery, so he asked Syri and she directed us to Crumb Bakehouse. It was a challenge to find, as it was hidden down an alley. We were standing on the street with Apple Maps telling us we had arrived, but we couldn’t see it! Eventually spied a footpath sign that directed us into the alley. Not really your traditional bakery – rather upmarket – but the sandwiches were delicious.
With the weather now the best it has been since Saturday afternoon, the walk up Mount Iron (549 metres) was back on the agenda. We set out anti-clockwise along the track which wound gently around the back of the mountain … initially. However, we eventually reached the point where we had to start climbing to the summit. It was quite steep in places, but we managed it and had fantastic 360° views. There were rabbit droppings everywhere and then there were rabbits everywhere, out grazing in broad daylight. When we walked down the other side of the mountain, to complete the loop, there was a barrier set up with a sign on it saying that the recreation reserve will be closed 9.00pm to 1.00am tonight for pest control purposes i.e. shooting rabbits!
We drove back to our motel via the New World supermarket on the northern side of town. We decided it would be much easier to park and shop there than at the Four Square supermarket in the centre. After our 4.5 kilometre walk it was good to be able to put our feet up.
Dinner tonight at The Stoaker Room. This restaurant is out the same side of town as the motel, so we didn’t need to drive into Brownston Street tonight. At The Stoaker Room they grill, bake, steam and smoke local produce in French Oak Pinot Noir Barrel Cookers that are called Stoakers. Bernie enjoyed ribs and I enjoyed orange roughy fresh from the barrel.
Steps: 14,634 (8.84kms)
