With its wide open vistas and pure alpine air that feels like it’s cleaning your lungs with every breath, Wanaka is a place that invites you to immerse yourself.

So when it comes to sourcing lodging, if you’re not camping or staying in one of the many remote hiking huts, it makes sense to find a house that makes you feel like a local.

Enter Release NZ, which serves as less of a luxury accommodation business and more like a concierge, serving up a smorgasbord of experiences under the one roof. You just decide how deep into the wilderness you’d like to get.

Those who prefer to stay closer to town have the choice of luxury apartments overlooking Lake Wanaka but close enough to the town’s famous foodie haunts to stumble home after an evenings revelry.

Couples can opt for the intimacy of the smaller (but by no means less plush) cottages. But if you’re with a group, or just prefer to indulge your most-baller desires then ask for one of the luxury villas, such as Infinity Drive.

Infinity Drive sits in Peninsula Bay, one of Wanaka’s new subdivisions (the region is booming and demand is said to be outstripping availability) and because the area is still in a state of construction, the half-built but fully inspired architectural structures that line the roads give it a deceptively suburban vibe.

Clever foresight saw the Release developers quickly snatch up the surrounding plots of land, meaning Infinity Drive’s spectacular outlook will remain untouched and unfiltered for many guests to come. Once you enter the glass encased foyer of the villa and look out onto unblocked 180 degree views across the lake and Stevensen’s Arm, you quickly realise this is unlike any suburb in the world.

The mountains hug the town and there’s almost a womb-like feeling of staying somewhere so deluxe but being only a stonesthrow from NZ’s rugged untouched back country.