Wānaka Willow Tree: Wanaka Travel Guide (4.4★)

A willow with its feet in the lake

It’s a single tree, and it doesn’t need anything else. A crooked crack willow grows straight out of the water at the edge of Roys Bay, its trunk leaning and its branches spreading low over the surface. Behind it, across the lake, the ridgelines of the Southern Alps finish the frame.

Most visitors know it as “That Wānaka Tree”, the hashtag that made it one of New Zealand’s most photographed trees. The story goes that it sprouted from an old fence post. When the lake runs high, the trunk stands well out in the water. When it runs low, you can sometimes see the gravel around its base.

Getting to the shore of Roys Bay

You can walk here easily. From the lakefront along Ardmore Street, head west, keeping the water on your left, and follow the shoreline path toward Mount Aspiring Road. On foot it takes roughly 10–15 minutes and the path stays flat the whole way.

If you’re driving, there’s lakeside parking off Mount Aspiring Road close to the tree. The spaces fill quickly, so walking from town is usually less hassle. The path carries on past the tree toward Waterfall Creek, which turns a quick photo stop into a proper lakeside walk.

• Address: Roys Bay, 59 Wanaka Mount Aspiring Road
• Access: the shoreline is open around the clock
• Time needed: 20–30 minutes for photos, longer if you walk on
• Surface: gravel beach and a level path

When the light and the water cooperate

The tree looks different every season. Autumn turns the willow leaves gold, usually around April and May. In winter the branches are bare and black against snow on the far peaks. Spring and summer bring full green growth, and the lake behind it shows that clear glacial blue.

Dawn is when the photographers show up. Before the wind gets going the water is often flat enough to give you a clean reflection, and cold mornings can leave mist on the bay. A tripod helps in low light. A mid-length lens lets you compress the tree against the mountains instead of shrinking it into the scenery.

Evening works too, and it’s an easy stroll from dinner in town. The tree is a silhouette, so it suits any time the sky is doing something interesting.

Sharing the shoreline at dawn

This is a crowded spot, not a secret one. On a good sunrise you’ll find a line of tripods along the gravel. People quietly take turns at the best angles, so step in, take your shots, and step back so the person behind you gets theirs.

• Don’t climb or swing on the tree. People climbing it damaged it, and in 2020 someone hacked off branches. Locals took it hard.
• Stay out of the water around the trunk. Wading in puts ripples and footprints in everyone’s reflection.
• Drones: check the local council and Civil Aviation Authority rules before flying. A drone over a crowded beach is the quickest way to annoy people.
• Take your rubbish with you. There’s no café here, and coffee cups do end up on this beach.

If the main angle is crowded, walk a little way along the shore. Shooting from the side often gives you a cleaner background and fewer heads in the frame.

What to pair it with nearby

You’re already on the lakefront, so make a morning of it. Walk back east along Roys Bay to the town’s cafés on Ardmore Street, or keep going west on the shoreline track for quieter views over the water.

Further along Mount Aspiring Road you’ll reach Rippon vineyard, with its sloping vines above the lake. Hikers who want the big view from above can tackle Roys Peak, a long, steep climb with the whole lake spread out below. For something shorter, Mount Iron near town gives a panorama in about an hour or two.

Before you set out

Wānaka mornings can be cold at any time of year, so bring a warm layer for a sunrise visit even in summer. The beach is open shoreline with no shelter. There’s no gate, no ticket and no closing time, but lake levels and weather change the scene a lot from one day to the next.

Have a quick look at the forecast for wind. A breezy morning ruins the reflection, and a still one is worth getting up early for.