Today we departed Queenstown nice and early (no surprises there 😉) and headed towards Wanaka, which depending on what route you took was either over 110 km away or just on 65 km. The difference however is one is via a state highway … and the other heads over the Crown Range and is full of twists and turns as you climb high into the mountains. You can guess which one we chose! The drive was incredible, slowly climbing, twisting and turning, rising high above the plains below. Driving alongside the snowfields of Cardona (no snow at this time of the year) you can see the massive slopes and the ski resorts waiting for the next season.
Our first stop of the day was Puzzling World in Wanaka. I think everyone knows how crazy we are about our puzzles and things that challenge the brain. Puzzling World had an open maze, tables filled with puzzles and brain teasers, and several illusion rooms. We started with the outdoor maze (before the day got too hot). We had to find our way to the four towers - red, yellow, blue and green and then to the garden which was the exit. We managed to navigate the maze in about 30 minutes and would have walked about 3 km!
Inside we stopped for a belated coffee and muffin breakfast whilst we tried to complete some of the puzzles on the tables and then headed into the illusion rooms. The first room was the tilt room … which made me feel very nauseous and off balance. We then wandered through looking at ambigrams, optical illusions and other strange things. Two hours later … we left Puzzle World!
Leaving Puzzling World we headed into Wanaka to have a look around and to complete the one Ad Lab that was there. It took us to the War Memorial (located high on a hill above the town with wonderful views), then to #thatwanakatree which is a single tree that grows in the water of the lake, then a detour to a lovely garden at Wanaka Station, out to the boat pier at Ruby Island (where there really isn’t a boat ramp - they just reverse their cars and boat trailers into the lake) and our final stop was another War Memorial on the edge of Lake Hawea. On our journey around we grabbed some sandwiches from the Four Square and ate them at our last stop. We also came across the whackiest letter box we have ever seen!
After lunch we headed off on Highway 6, leaving Lake Hawea and heading towards Haast. This road travelled the high mountains, often running alongside Lake Hawea to begin with, then crossing to run alongside Lake Wanaka and then beside the Makarora and finally the Haast Rivers. The distance was 130 km but when you are completing an Ad Lab and stopping to look at waterfalls, pools, dry river beds and bridges it took us about 4 hrs to complete!
The colours of the scenery are wild! Beautiful blue sky, fluffy white clouds, snow and glacier capped grey mountains, sheer granite cliff faces, green trees and dry grasslands, white pebbled rivers and turquoise waters fed by white cascading waterfalls.
We visited …
The Blue Pools … a 1 hr round trip (plus paddling time)
Haast Pass … we only stopped to get the answer to our Ad Lab
Fantail Falls … a 2 minute walk in
Gates of Haast … right beside the road!
Thunder Creek Falls … a 5 minute walk in and out
Roaring Billy Falls … a 25 min round trip walk
Finally we checked in to the hotel in Haast (population 84), one of the more remote towns on the rugged West Coast. We ate dinner at the Frontier Cafe (the only eatery open on a Sunday evening) to the accompaniment of some mellow country music as the local dog Spook wandered through the restaurant checking out the blow-ins.
Today’s tally …
Photos taken … 293
Steps walked …18,937
Kms walked … 14.47 km
Lakes passed … 2
Waterfalls seen … 4
Dogs patted … 1
Mazes completed … 1
So many adventures!! I don’t know HOW you are going to be able to return to regular everyday life!! The pictures, as usual, are GORGEOUS. The blues of the sky and the water just blow me away!
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