Today we continued on Highway 6 out of Queenstown and through the Karawau Gorge on the modern concrete bridge. The 1880 old bridge nearby became the world’s first commercial bungee jumping venture. You can still do this here if it is your thing. The road passes wineries and orchards. There is even a place called Bannockburn which is quite unlike the Bannockburn I know. When I was at school we could always remember the date of the Battle of Bannockburn as the local pub is called the 1314 Inn. We could have taken a more direct minor road over a 1000m pass to our morning coffee stop at Wanaka but in winter this is likely to be very icy or snowy as it goes past a ski area. Wanaka is a smaller, quieter and laid-back place than Queenstown and might be worth considering for any future trip in the region. It has a very pleasant overlook onto Boys Bay.
Further north, the road passes alongside Lake Hawes
over a small neck of land and then back alongside Lake Wanaka.
There was hardly anyone else on the road. Near Makarova we could see all the mountains around us.
The Haast Pass is a bit of a non-event. It is 564m but as it is in the middle of rainforest, there are no views. The early Maori had been using this route for a long time before the first Europeans appeared. It is named after a German Geologist, Julius von Haast but others suggest that Scottish Prospector Charles Cameron may have crossed it before him. The road was not opened to vehicles until 1965. Highway 6 follows the Haast River right down to the beach. Various creeks are crossed on the way but the one with the best name was Crikey Creek. I could hear the Tasman Sea waves before I could see them but we had a walk on the beach after filling up with fuel.
Mountains back onto the beach.
Back on the highway we were soon at Bruce Bay where notices warn drivers about debris being blown onto the road in high seas.
Our destination was the Fox Glacier. The Franz Josef Glacier a little further north is bigger but busier. Even at the Fox, you are advised to walk up the path before 8am or after 6pm in summer. There are numerous companies who will sell you guided walks on the glacier or helicopter rides but we chose the low key drive to the last carpark on the access road and then the walk up to it. The access road marks the face of the glacier in 1915 and 1935. It had even retreated and continues to do so since 2008. We made the 20 minute walk up to the viewing area a power walk as we had been sitting in the car rather a lot.
Afterwards we settled into our motel in the village and are preparing for the longer drive tomorrow.
Tag: Queenstown
New Zealand: the road to Queenstown
Another early start on a cold frosty morning to drive back down Highway 94 and then over to Queenstown. Milford Sound is a good place for dark skies as there is very little light pollution. Although I have been in the southern hemisphere numerous times, I always find the stars in the southern sky a little disorientating. The car thermometer read zero for most of the icy road down to Te Anau where we were accompanied by misty mountains and frosty leaves.
We had to drive carefully in order not to end up in in a ditch like one vehicle we passed with emergency services in attendance. We had stopped at one layby to look at the view and noticed two Kea on another car. They appeared to be trying to eat the rubber seals. I told the two women in the car that our squirrels chew the lead flashing on the roof for no obvious reason. I was quite pleased to get a shot of them as we had seen several Kea but they had all disappeared very quickly. I am still trying to identify all the raptors we have seen feeding on road kill.
At Te Anau we stopped for a coffee and then turned towards Queenstown. The sun had at last come out and the thermometer started to rise a little.
Our picnic lunch was eaten by Lake Wakatipu and then we endured the major roadworks around the construction of a new bridge into Queenstown. It was quite strange to be back among the crowds on a Friday afternoon in this busy town. It is a major base for winter sports and there were a lot of young people around. There are numerous outdoor retailers and obviously some wealth around as there is also a Louis Vuitton store. Needless to say we did not need to do any shopping but chose a walk around the garden peninsula instead. There we discovered a new sport. We had spotted a few people throwing frisbees and coming across one in the undergrowth, had assumed it was lost. We shouted over to the nearest family who told us to leave it which was a bit mystifying. We saw a few more lying on the ground, seemingly abandoned further on, but it was not until we left the park that I saw a notice saying that Disc Golf had been played there since the 1990s.
Some people thought it was warm enough to sit on the beach but it was not warm enough for me.
Fortunately our hotel is out of town a bit and fairly quiet for relaxing in before tomorrow’s journey.