When we left Franz Josef to head South, the weather was no better than the day before. We stopped by Lake Matheson once more, just to have our expectations confirmed – the mountains had not yet returned from their hideaway in the clouds. We bought a post card with the reflection and moved on – there are plenty of beautiful lakes in New Zealand.
We were headed to a freecamp at the Northern end of Lake Hawea near Wanaka, this time going over the Southern Alps at Haast Pass. Driving to the camp site this particular day took forever – mainly because we had to stop at every new corner of the road through Haast Pass, because of the awesome scenery and views.
One thing in particular stood out – the moss clad, crooked trees that rose high above the road – in certain places they make the landscape look almost enchanted. Everything is green and moist from the large amounts of rain, yet as soon as you get to the other side of the pass, rolling hills with extremely dry grass dominate the picture.
As I mentioned, we stopped in many places. The one below is Fantail Falls – where the number of flat stones had made many passers by build stone cairns. We built a few as well and moved on towards our destination for the day.
Our camp site at the shores of Lake Hawea was in a beautiful spot. When we arrived there were quite a few there already, but the site is large, and we found a perfect spot with a view to the lake. It was raining, but when it stopped we went for an evening walk and skipped stones at the lake before bedtime.
Next morning we woke up to a bright and clear day. The girls actually went for a morning run (something about a monster app that was fun to use for tracking?) and a bit later we were on the road again, fighting a cow here and there to get off the gravel road to the camp site and on to the main road.
Once again it was unavoidable that we stopped to take in the views. These below are both Lake Hawea.
I lived in Wanaka for three years. It is such joy to see you explore “my” part of this island.
It is such a beautiful place – I wish we had more time there. Actually I wish we had more time in New Zealand. We did the Rob Roy Glacier Valley walk a few days ago – next blog post. 😉 (Next time I have decent wi-fi…)
Yes, I saw you post a photo in Instagram, and I went, “Yuss! They did it.” 🙂
Beautiful – love the cows and the girls gone running.
Great title too: “The Road through Haast Pass” – now you just need to make a movie or a book (or both) that fits that title. Sounds like a bit of a drama.
Thanks for all the stories – keep it up!