West Coast - Wanaka - Te Anau

We spent most of the next two days driving through the country-side. After we left Franz Josef glacier, we headed south towards Haast Pass. We had a quick squiz at Fox glacier on the way - I regret not spending more time in that area because Lake Matheson is nearby, at it is meant to clearly reflect Mt Cook in its calm waters. Something to keep in mind next time, I guess...

After a day of driving, we stopped for the night at Wanaka. We stayed at the Purple Cow backpackers, which I enjoyed because they showed free movies and it had a lively atmosphere. We didn't venture outside much because it was about zero degrees outside, even in the middle of the day. Needless to say, we pretty much sat by the heater while in Wanaka. Which is a bit of a shame because I wanted to explore around the town a bit. There was meant to be some Lord of the Rings locations nearby, but I didn't attempt to find them, it was too cold! Yeah, I know, it's a pathetic excuse...

After our brief stint in Wanaka, we started driving to Queenstown to drop off our new friend, Kim. We met Kim in Franz Josef while staying at the Glowworm Cottages - she needed a lift to Queenstown, so we gladly let her join us in our journey south.

We decided to go along the 'adventurous' route from Wanaka to Queenstown via the Crown Range Road, the highest main road in New Zealand. I was a bit frightened - I had pictures in my mind of driving on narrow dirt roads, perilously close to the edge of a cliff... But it was amazing! A frozen fog had swept through the country-side the night before, blanketing the trees in a delicate layer of frost. It was so beautiful!

The views from Crown Range Road were beautiful. I would recommend anyone driving between Wanaka and Queenstown take this route. Not only is it shorter than the other Wanaka-Queenstown alternative, the views are not to be missed. It's a bit scary in parts - we stopped to take some pictures on a particularly icy patch of road, and there were no guard-rails, so we could have easily slipped over the edge of the mountain! But is was all in good fun - there's always little risks while travelling in New Zealand! This picture shows a great view overlooking the road as it heads towards Arrowtown and Queenstown in the distance.

After we dropped Kim of in Queenstown, we had a quick look around and then made our way towards Te Anau. The drive to Te Anau was beautiful once again, although Steve drove like a maniac and hit a bird along the way! I had a bit of a cry and sulked in the car, but soon recovered. I suppose it was bound to happen sooner or later, judging by the amounts of roadkill on the side of the roads...


Te Anau was very quiet, except for the occasional bus full of tourists on their way to Milford Sound. I imagine that it's the sort of place that gets hectic in summer - the massive Lake Te Anau would be great to swim in in the warm weather. We had a go at skimming stones on the water, which I sucked at...

We stayed the night in a really nice little unit at the local Holiday Park. There wasn't too much to get up to, but we did go out for dinner. But we were saving up our energy for the big day ahead at Milford Sound... I'll be posting some more pictures in the next few days!