Day 6
Originally we had planned to stay in Wanaka for the night but on the second day when we met Ross he said to go check out Lake Hawea, so we did! We woke to yet another very crisp morning and the sun was in full effect. I chucked on some clothes and went for a wonder while Monita got breakfast under way.
Lake Hawea was a very peaceful, beautiful spot, thanks for the recommendation Ross. The end goal for the day was to get to Haast, not a long drive but it would still be a full day. We left the camp a bit later as we utilised the showers. Although the camper has a shower, hot water is a very scare commodity so it was nice to have a long hot shower for a change. Monita took advantage of this and washed and straightened her hair. Also something that can only be done when plugged into a powered site.
We took a short stroll along the Hawea river up to the dam, the colour of the water was mesmerizing. Aqua blue and green, quite a contrast to the Waikato river! From there we refuelled and headed along Lake Hawea stopping along the way. We reached ‘The Neck’ where the road switches between Lake Hawea and Lake Wanaka, which are separate by less than 2km at this certain point!
As we hugged the road with cliffs to the right of us we approached some road works. They were putting some netting to stop rock slides from the cliff faces. It was a 10 minute wait so Monita jumped in the kitchen and whipped up some tasty as sammies! I was pretty excited for our next stop, The Blue Pools. And boy where they blue. We walked deep into the forest and across a couple of swing bridges before reaching the deep blue pools. With water so clear you could see the river bed. The sandflies were going crazy so I snapped for as long as Monita could take it and we headed back to the camper.
The road between Wanaka and Haast is called Haast Pass, and there’s a bit too see. We stopped at a seemingly high point in the road that had a sign for a look out. Not knowing how quickly this track would rise was a surprise, but the lush green moss covered ground was something else! Back to the camper we stopped at Fairy falls before making one last stop at the Gates of Haast. What an epic place it was!
We approached Haast and could feel the coast getting closer. The weather was starting to turn and clouds dominated the sky. Now I had no expectations of what to expect in Haast, and to be honest there was nothing really there. A holiday park or two, a petrol station, a few other accommodation spots and lastly NO service. We drove to a few freedom camping spots, the beach seemed a bit to exposed so we headed up the coast to an interesting spot… We parked up, had dinner, chilled out for a bit and called it a night.
