Nicky, a special needs teacher, and Geoff Holland, a roading engineer, won a week's luxury food and wine tour in the town and surrounding region.
The couple are from Bexley, one of the worst-hit suburbs of Christchurch, and have been living in a campervan in their garden. It is still uncertain if they will be able to rebuild due to the liquefaction that has affected the area.
During their stay in Wanaka, the couple stayed at Tiritiri Lodge and enjoyed scenic flights over Mt Aspiring National Park in a Tiger
Moth. They also dined at many of the region's restaurants.
As well as eating and drinking, the Holland's enjoyed a cruise to Mou Waho Island on Lake Wanaka.
"The whole trip was utterly amazing, people have been so kind, generous and friendly," Nicky said. "Everyone went out of their way to make us feel at home and comfortable.''
She said the trip helped them come to terms with what had happened to their lives in Christchurch and plan how they were going to deal with it.
"Going to Wanaka took us those three steps away, once we'd calmed down and started to relax a little we could sit down and rationally think about what we had to do.
''It gave us breathing space and we drew up a to-do list to try and get our lives back to some semblance of normality. That is something we wouldn't have been capable of doing, staying where we were. But, life will go on, it just won't be quite the same as before."
Ironically all of Nicky's cookbooks were lost in the earthquake, swallowed by the putrid liquefaction, including the one that won her the competition. Annabel Langbein has promised to replace it so once she has a kitchen to return to, she can start cooking again.
