The Wānaka Tree

The famous Wānaka Tree sits on the shoreline of Lake Wānaka, just down from the Watersports Facility off Mount Aspiring Road.

The Wānaka Tree in 1972, photo provided by Ces Anderson

Local lore suggests that it had humble beginnings as a fence that extended into Lake Wānaka to keep livestock from wandering further along Roys Bay from the Wānaka Station. It is believed to have started growing in the 1930’s, and a local resident could recall it growing in 1939.

The tree is a Willow Tree that has been stunted due to its submerged roots. If the lake is low, the water line sometimes drops below where the tree stands. In winter, the tree often loses all of its leaves, and the skeletal figure provides yet another stunning way to be photographed.

Despite having what some would consider a long-life, it was only in 2014 that the Wānaka Tree became famous. Dennis Radermacher, a photographer from Christchurch, won the 2014 New Zealand Geographic photograph of the year with a photo of the tree shrouded in mist.[1] The photo was taken on a foggy winter’s morning, and features four cormorants resting in its branches.

Since then, the tree has featured on many social media accounts by tourists and locals alike. At the beginning of 2025, Instagram showed over 80,000 uses of #ThatWānakaTree. It is considered to be one of New Zealand’s most photographed trees, possibly because of the stunning view of the lake and mountains directly behind it.

It is not the only famous tree in Wānaka History. To read about the history of a Weeping Willow Tree on Ardmore Street, click here.

[1] https://www.nzgeo.com/photography/photographer-of-the-year-2014 accessed 27/03/2025.