Fox Glacier to Lake Wanaka via Haast Pass
Leaving the Fox Glacier Top 10 Holiday Park, we turned right at the main junction rejoining the almost deserted Route 6 Haast Highway south.
The road took us through stunning wilderness, across wide rivers, along the shores of lakes, through forests & all the time mountain ranges creeping closer to the shoreline of the Tasman Sea.
Settlements & towns were noticeable by their absence. A few farmsteads were placed wherever there was a large enough area of flatish grassland.
The road hugged the windswept coastline, beaches littered with driftwood. We stopped mid-morning for a coffee break at Ship Cove, named after an 1855 ship wreck site. The coarse sand was strewn with huge chunks of bleached driftwood, some of which had been artfully arranged into rugged art. The colours of the ocean & sky, wood & swamp was truly amazing. Cameras were definitely on overload!
Back on the road, we crossed the longest single track bridge in New Zealand, the Callender-Hamilton Bridge, which has carefully placed passing places.
Before we turned inland to follow the Haast Pass, we stopped for lunch pulling onto yet another deserted beach at Jackson Bay. A long sandy beach, again strewn with driftwood & seaweed with large rolling waves crashing onto the strand. Pure heaven.
There are not many roads in South Island, & there are no roads further south than Haast, so all traffic must travel across to Queenstown through the mighty Haast Pass. The road follows the river which cuts through the heavily wooded slopes.
A quick stop off at the Gates of Haast, a rough & tumbling waterfall, which when we visited was suffering from a decided lack of water, New Zealand in January & February 2013 was suffering from drought conditions which were becoming more noticeable as the days passed. The scenery was spectacular, with the towering mountain peaks high above us.
Once clear of the Pass, the landscape changed to rough grasslands, Sheep Country, with the smooth curvaceous hills reminiscent of the Scottish Highlands in particularly, Glencoe. This was Makarora County as the hoarding on The Country Cafe informed us when we stopped for an ice cream cornet & fill up of diesel. This part of our journey to Lake Wanaka following many branches of the Makarora River was a little eerie. Apart from the Cafe, there was no sign of, or very little sign of, human habitation.
From the flat grasslands, the turquoise blue waters of Lake Wanaka greet you with its vast expanse of water, & it was to be by its shores that we would park up for the evening in the Department of Conservation campsite at Boundary Creek This wasn't exactly Freedom Camping as we had to deposit some money into a box, & there was a loo, but it felt pretty much close to it. Interestingly, we were the only motorhome rental vehicle parked, everyone else was local, so to speak, & extremely friendly once they discovered that we had a motorhome back in the UK. So we all enjoyed a good social evening over a glass or two of the local red discussing such topics as dairy farming in NZ & european motorhomes.
Total Mileage = 133 miles
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