This tree is a global Instastar

A lone tree that grew from a fence post in the South Island of New Zealand has become an unlikely social media sensation.

The willow tree on the shores of Lake Wanaka is thought to be at least 80 years old. Not so unusual, you might think. But more recently, this venerable tree has become a star. Known as #thatwanakatree it is attracting photographers from around the world, keen for the perfect shot.

A custodian of local history, 85-year-old Wanaka artist and writer Gwenda Rowlands, remembers the fence line from nearly 70 years ago, when she first visited it in a dinghy with her father and brother. “It was 1939 and I remember it growing there and that’s not yesterday,” she told the media. “So it has been growing slowly all that time. It shows anything that is alive has a determination to live.”

And this means dozens of amateur and professional photographers gather on the shores of Lake Wanaka from dawn to dusk to photograph the “most photogenic tree in the world”. The tree even has its own dedicated Facebook page and has been featured in international publications. The hashtag #thatwanakatree has been used more than 13,000 times on Instagram.

The tree is the focus of photography tours and people pose naked beside it, have their wedding photographs taken in front of it or meditate beneath it.

In 2015, more than 100 people attended an Instameet in Wanaka to shoot the tree.

Carlson, who was involved in the Instameet, said that the event was a “perfect place, perfect time, perfect storm” that led to an explosion of interest in Wanaka. “It changed the face of tourism here,” she said.