Advertisement
Published: December 7th 2013
Edit Blog Post
Vegimite for breakfast
We think marmite is better So a bit of a leisurely start this morning with the alarm set for 8.30. The expected time for our journey today was a mere 5 hours so plenty of time. We decided today that we would swop and have breakfast in a cafe and buy a packed lunch from the supermarket. When I say packed lunch were talking loaf of bread, cheese slices and some hummus all washed down with a pint of orange juice! The sun was shining when we got up so we had discussed whether to go back and do the longer walk to the Franz Josef but as we were having breakfast the cloud started to come in so we decided that we would leave it! As we sat there, lots of young people in shorts carrying ice picks walked past. Assume they were going up onto the ice field. I was definitely feeling a bit old for Franz Josef!!!
So we set off down the good old highway 6, I have to say with a bit of a downer. In fact we had a conversation about whether we should have done the east side (I.e. Christchurch) after all. Interestingly this route, on the west
Simple boy
Breakfast with a glacier in the background (somewhere) side, was only opened in 1965. Before that the road ended at Haast. In fact the road still closes at 6pm every night! Can you imagine that in the uk!
After about 25km is the second glacier, the Fox glacier. There is a lookout road so we drove up. No one around, even though it was about 11.00am by then. And the view of the glacier was fantastic, helped by the sun glinting off the top.
So on we travelled and all I can say was the views just got better and better. And what a diversity of views. By the end of the journey I was completely overwhelmed by the sights I had seen And was definitely happy we had chosen this route. If God had left out the sand flies it really would feel like heaven on earth.
Our first photo stop was at a beach called Bruce bay. The road just skimmed this beach for a few 100 metres before going back inland but it was a very strange site. The beach was completely covered in driftwood. Now in our garden, Ian and I have a couple of designer clumps of wood, sourced from
NZ and that cost us 100s of pounds. We had mentioned during the trip that we wondered where they came from and the here they are! So, not wanting to miss a bargain we decided to go and bag ourselves a couple of small pieces!
While I was beach combing Ian was taking artistic shots. Suddenly I realised I was being eaten alive by sandfllies! So called the photo shoot to an early finish, grabbed a couple of reasonably nice bits and jumped back in the car. It was our first encounter with the sandfllies, but unfortunately wasn't to be our last! And they get everywhere, takes about 1/2 hour to swat all the ones that sneak into the car every time you open the door. And we were doing a lot of door opening due to the amount of photos we were taking.
NeXt stop was where the roads were linked between Haast and wanaka. There were rocks in the water that were a bit like the apostles on the great ocean road but these weren't even mentioned never mind being classified as a must see! After that we continued, crossing the longest single lane bridge in
Fox Glacier
Named after the mint , or which came first.
This was stunning. New Zealand, the one that crosses the Haast river. We have crossed loads of this type of bridge over the last couple of days but this one was 737m long so worthy of a photo.
Finally we stopped for our picnic lunch by a rushing river. These falls seemed to exist between thunder creek falls and fantail falls but had no name. So Ian and I have named them 'Dobson falls' as we are claiming their discovery, and as Arthur hadn't bothered with his surname it was still open for use. The fact that we were one amongst many and that were marked by a set of kerbside rock monuments has no consequence. Captain cook had often been beaten to the find, but it didn't stop him.
From then on we were on our way to Queenstown, with the views getting more and more awesome. If you could see the number of photos we have taken! Unfortunately nothing compares with the human eye so none of them do justice to the sight. I have included some but all we are hoping is that they will help us remember these amazing sights. First we drove alongside the edge of
Bruce Bay
Full of horrible sand flies that bit us to bits Lake Wanaka, a huge lake of a beautiful colour. That was pretty spectacular. And then we turned a corner and in front of us was this HUGE vista of Lake Hawea. I have to admit to being a bit of a girl and my emotions got the better of me, but it really was that breathtaking.
The views all the way into Queenstown were spectacular, lakes and mountains always make a brilliant duo. It felt strange as we entered Queenstown as we had been pretty much on our own on the road for a couple of days so to see a busy town felt peculiar.
We got to the hotel and have a lovely surprise, we had been upgraded to a lake view room. And what a view. Probably would classify as our best and we have had some pretty nice ones from some of our rooms. The balcony definitely added to it.
After a long drive it was nice to get a bath to have a long soak (Although I have to say I didn't do my fair share today). We were looking for something quick and simple for dinner so Ian found us a pizza
Knights Pass
Sort of a NZ version of tha appostles restaurant called 'The Cow' thorough a recommendation. Just hit the spot, pizza and a bottle of red. The restaurant had a real feel of 'après ski', be interesting to see how it worked in the winter. Although the waiter made it sound that it's quite a trek to ski from Queenstown.
Another big drive tomorrow.
Advertisement
Tot: 0.141s; Tpl: 0.014s; cc: 12; qc: 49; dbt: 0.0533s; 1; m:domysql w:travelblog (10.17.0.13); sld: 1;
; mem: 1.1mb