Leaving Haast at 8.30 am, we have another 3 hours plus of driving to get us to Queenstown, where we are staying overnight near the airport before catching a 7 am flight home tomorrow. The Haast Pass road is yet another drive with stunning scenery and a bit less hilly that our previous few days as the road mostly follows the valley through which the Haast River Flows. There are a number of scenic stops along the way, three of which feature waterfalls, in the Mount Aspiring National Park.
Our first stop, not that far out of Haast, is the Roaring Billy Falls, which are part of The Roaring Billy Creek that cascades down into the Haast River.
Walkway to the falls
Roaring Billy Falls
Walking back over the dry riverbed to the track
The Haast River bed is huge and must be quite a spectacle at full flow. A few cows are strolling along the rocky bed at the moment.
It is only a short walk to the falls on a well defined track. About 1 km return trip.
Back on the road, it was not long before we stopped again to see another waterfall, this time called the Thunder Creek Falls. These are much taller falls, 96 m and very accessible from the road, only a few minutes walk to a viewing platform.
Thunder Creek Falls
Our last waterfall stop is at the Fantail Falls, once again, no a long walk from the roadside stop.
Fantail Falls
For some inexplicable reason, tourist have taken to building rock cairns at this riverbed, and on anything else they can see including this bit of driftwood.
Not all of the scenic roadside stops were a great success. We pulled over to one described as Blue Pools which had a track done to the river where the blue pools must have been a feature. Unfortunately the tracks had been closed as "the bridges along the track had come to and end of their useful life. However, there were toilets there so not all was lost.
The mysterious blue pools are somewhere down there
We continue to follow the the river, cross over many one lane bridges with great river views but nowhere to stop, head over the Haast Pass and eventually find ourselves driving along the shoreline of Lake Wanaka.
Lake Wanaka
Another large Lake near Lake Wanaka comes into view on the opposite side of the road, Lake Hawea. We pulled over to get this shot from the lookout.
By morning tea time we were approaching Albert Town and remember the great patisserie that Peter and Deirdre took us to when we were touring around with them. With a bit of good detective work, we located the Pembroke Cafe, had our coffee and shared one of their famous Almond Croissants
It was now approaching midday and we are well ahead of our schedule as we will be at the airport hotel in an hour from here if we go straight there. No doubt we will find a few diversions.
After morning tea we continue on through Cadrona and over the Crown Ranges, a route that Peter took us on early in our trip. It has turned into a nice day and as we wind our way down the ranges we found a lookout about halfway down the decline that gave a good view of both Queenstown and the valley.
Looking toward Queenstown
Looking back down the valley in the direction of Cromwell
Back on the highway into Queenstown we diverted to Arrowtown to have a bit of a drive through and drop in to have a look at Millbrook Golf Course. Arrowtown was very busy.
We ended up having lunch at a cafe near our Hotel, checked in at just after 2pm and I returned the rental car.
The rest of the afternoon was spent having a bit of a rest and repacking ready for a very early start tomorrow.
Our hotel is close to the airport and has the Remarkables as a backdrop.
WyndhamGarden Remarkables Hotel
There is a unique architectural feature in some rooms, including ours. The earthquake bracing is inside the room, not external as it would spoil the facade. you can see a few in the windows in the photo above. I doubt this building won any architectural awards.
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