Photos of drive to Haast

Wanaka to Haast and onwards

Yesterday we visted Lake Wanaka, sadly it was wet and cloudy, so not a lot to see, but loads of goodies in the supermarket to stock up on. We got on the road heading in the direction of Haast. Amazing views all along the road, photos to follow, we were going to stop off at a Doc campsite (Department of Conservation) which looked good, these are sites where you pay a minimal cost for minimal amenities, no showers, we have one in the van, long drop toilets, don't even ask! Luckily we have our own, and no power, but when we got to the site there were loads of midges and it was starting to bucket down, so carried on to Haast and a proper campsite, which was absolutely packed by 4.00 by people taking refuge from the pouring rain. This morning woke up to blue sky and sunshine, as they say onward and upward, we are now at Fox Glacier on the South West coast with a beautiful evening. Had a great day visiting a very remote beach with flat rocks, which was 12 Kms off the main road called Gillespies beach, then a beautiful lake called Lake Matheson, which is where the Maoris used to fish for eels and trout, had a great walk round, now camped for the night on a very pleasant site, with Chris cooking dinner, even better! Tomorrow I'm going to be very brave and go for a walk on Fox Glacier!

A short drive south brought us to another awesome landscape of LAKE PUKAKI and views of MOUNT COOK in the distance.A spacious site on the edge of the lake afforded us a peaceful and tranquil day of short walks along the shoreline and a welcome 'chill-out' period of sitting by the van in glorious sunshine reading our books and sipping chilled white wine I'm writing this at approx 8.45pm,the sun has finally set on the mountains which have taken on a purple and indigo hue, and MOUNT COOK is just about to fade in to darkness,it's great snowfields slowly dimming in the sunset. Probably our most amazing visual experience of the holiday, and we're sure there will be more to follow

Lake Pukaki & Mount Cook

Lake Tekapo

We climbed a Mountain

Left Christchurch in rain and cloud, and arrived at Lake Tekapo in sunshine and warmth - what a difference a couple of hours and a lot of height makes! We are now at the gateway to the Southern Alps. Decided to go for a walk round the lake which is bright turquoise, and comes from glacial melt water, stunning. Then we had a stroll! up Mount John where there is an observatory, it was very steep, but we made it photos to follow. We met a young man on his way down who told us he had run it in 6 minutes! Absolutely amazing views when we reached the top well worth it. Returned to our campsite to find that nearly all of China had arrived in campervans!

Transalpine Railway & Arthur's Pass