Wānaka (Māori pronunciation: [ˈwaːnaka])[2] is a popular ski and summer resort town in the Otago region of the South Island of New Zealand.

At the southern end of Lake Wānaka, it is at the start of the Clutha River and is the gateway to Mount Aspiring National Park.

Historically, Māori visited the Wānaka area to hunt and fish in summer, or on their way to seek pounamu (greenstone) on the West Coast.

[4] The Ngāi Tahu Atlas Kā Huru Manu dismisses this variation as a simple spelling mistake.

[8] Take Kārara was a Kāi Tahu kāinga nohoanga (settlement) at the southern end of Lake Wānaka, including Ruby Island.

[8] The town was named Wanaka when it was first surveyed in 1863, but renamed Pembroke within a month of the surveyor returning his books to Dunedin.

Pembroke was the family name of the Hon Sydney Herbert,[9] a UK Cabinet Minister and member of the Canterbury Association.

[11][12] Their settlement Take Kārara included a pā and a kāinga mahinga kai (food-gathering site) where pora ('Māori turnip'), mahetau, tuna (eels), and weka were gathered.

[8] Eels and birds were gathered at a lagoon Manuhaea on the Hāwea side of The Neck, which also supported gardens of potato and turnips.

In 1836, the Ngāti Tama chief Te Pūoho led a 100-person war party, armed with muskets, down the West Coast and over the Haast Pass.

Te Puoho took his captives over the Crown Range to Lake Wakatipu and thence to Southland where he was killed and his war party destroyed by the southern Ngāi Tahu leader Tūhawaiki.

[16] Reko and Kaikōura showed Chalmers the rock bridge Whatatorere at Roaring Meg, which was the only place that the Kawarau River could be jumped over,[17] and returned him down the Clutha in a mōkihi reed boat – arguably the first recorded instance of adventure tourism in the region.

European settlement began in the Upper Clutha River Valley in the 1850s, with the establishment of sheep stations by runholders.

[18] Wānaka proved a very popular tourist destination because of its borderline continental climate and easy access to snow and water.

[20] With the development of Treble Cone (1968) and Cardrona ski fields (1980), Wānaka grew in popularity as a winter destination.

Glendhu Bay is on the lake's western shore, close to the Matukituki River valley which gives access to the Mount Aspiring National Park.

The lakeside area of the town is prone to occasional flooding in spring when heavy rain and snowmelt can cause the lake to rise quickly, as in November 1999.

[24] Winter can be extreme by New Zealand standards with temperature mostly in the single digits during the day time followed by cold and frosty nights and frequent snowfalls.

[39] The area around Wānaka is a formal sub-region of the Central Otago wine region with several top wineries and vineyards.

[45] Films made in the Wānaka region include The Lord of the Rings,[53] The Hobbit,[54] the Legend of S,[55] and A Wrinkle in Time.

These include Treble Cone, Cardrona Alpine Resort and Snow Farm, some of New Zealand's premier commercial ski fields.

Cardrona is more attractive to families and beginners, though an attempt has been made at the park riding population in competition with SnowPark.

As well as an extensive collection of books and ebooks, audiobooks and newspapers, the library provides Wi-Fi, printing, copying and computer facilities.

[65] After issues with freedom campers in 2016, signs in the Wānaka Library ask people not to bathe or wash dishes in the toilets.

It provides advice about walking and hiking in the national park and information about the huts, campsites, weather and heritage sites.

[76][77][78][79] Described as having a "richly textured and contoured façade [which] belies the tough functional requirements demanded by a project realised in a sensitive environmental zone", the Wānaka watersports facility was the winner of the 2020 Southern Architecture Awards.

[82] Holy Family Catholic Church was built in 2011 and its organic form was designed to allude to the mountains that surround it.

[93][94] Fresh water for the town is drawn from Lake Wānaka via two inlets and treated by chlorination prior to distribution.

Since 2008, the water supply has had issues with Didymo "rock snot" algae entering the system and building up, clogging filters and household plumbing.

The film studio is expected to cost $280 million and will include up to 10 sound stages, an 11 hectare lake, an Italian village and replicas of parts of Venice, Paris and New York City.