February 08, 2019
The final destination for today was the town of Wanaka (estimated 3 hours 35 minutes drive time). We got a later start this morning since we had free breakfast at the hostel at 7:30. I had cereal and orange juice. The cereal with dried fruit reminded me of trail mix.
The weather was partly cloudy and views toward Franz Josef Glacier were very nice. I pulled off to the side near the glacier access road to snap a few photos.
We drove on to the town of Fox Glacier and took a side road to see Lake Matheson. This was billed as a great place to see the Southern Alps as a backdrop to the lake, with reflections of the mountains on a still day. By the time we arrived the clouds had rolled in, but there was still a partial view of the mountains. We found out that access to the lake would be an hour round trip walk. I was under the impression that the lake was a lot closer to the road. Also, the place was inundated with tour buses. It looked like a tourist trap so we bailed out.
We drove south to the west coast for one last look at the beaches there. The weather was less cloudy at the coast. We stopped briefly at Bruce Bay, Knights Point Lookout, and the Tauparikākā Marine Reserve at Ship Creek. There we went on a boardwalk that crossed some sand dunes and led down to a rocky beach.
The road then headed inland through Mount Aspiring National Park and climbed to Haast Pass. The surrounding forest was extremely lush with lots of ferns. We stopped to see Roaring Billy Falls. The river below the falls had a gorgeous blue color from the glacial deposits. It was what I had hoped to see Hokitika Gorge look like a few days ago. There were also great views of the surrounding mountains.
Another nice spot along the road was the Landsborough Valley which had a good view of the mountains near the confluence of the Landsborough and Haast Rivers.
We also stopped to see Thunder Creek Falls and Fantail Falls. Both were short hikes from the road. Thunder Creek Falls was the more impressive of the two, while Fantail Falls had hundreds of whimsical rock cairns that people had built in the surrounding river bed.
We stopped near Cameron Flats at a river access pullout to eat lunch. The sandflies at that spot were very bad, so we did not stay long. They swarmed inside our car as we were leaving, and it took awhile to get rid of them all.
Next stop was the trail to the Blue Pools. The car park was a zoo with a few campervans briefly blocking the entrance as they were searching for a spot to park. I am not sure what their problem was since there was a small side lot that had a few spaces. I pulled into that lot and we walked to the trailhead. There we discovered we were not at the closest parking lot to the pools, and it would take a one hour round trip from there. We decided to try to park at the closer lot. But that lot was completely full with no sign of anyone leaving. We debated whether to go back to the lot that was further away but decided not to since it was already mid afternoon and we had another hour of driving to do. This was one decision that I now regret because the Blue Pools are supposed to be pretty spectacular. We will have to revisit that area in a future trip and figure out a way to get there earlier in the day to avoid the crowds.
Very soon afterwards the road exited the lush forest and entered a much drier region. The surrounding hillsides were a golden color. Heinrich said it reminded him of eastern Washington. We stopped at a few viewpoints of Lake Wanaka and Lake Hawea. The Lake Wanaka viewpoints were extremely windy. But they were devoid of sandflies!
We checked into the place we were staying: Aubrey Guest House in a residential area on the outskirts of Wanaka. It only had a microwave oven and a few plates and utensils for cooking facilities, so our dinner consisted of some microwaved rice and chicken dinners. I did not think they were very good: too much rice and not enough meat and vegetables.
After dinner we drove to Glendhu Bay on the other side of Lake Wanaka. We took a short walk on the shore of the lake. The vegetation was still mostly brown and dry, but there were some nice views of the mountains in Mount Aspiring National Park.
We drove into the town of Wanaka to fill up on gas and then drove back to the guest house for the evening.