3/13: World Scenic Highway Drive to Franz Joseph via Blue Pools!

I am simultaneously finishing a travel blog about the fantastic 4.5 month long trip Steven and I took last fall to Armenia, Georgia, Azerbaijan, much of Central Asia and then the final six weeks in Spain and Portugal. If you're interested in checking that exciting adventure out, here's the link:
www.bergersadventures6.blogspot.com

After a more than 12 hour day yesterday driving to and from the exciting Milford Sound and then north to Wanaka, my friend Diane and I took it easy the next morning as we were in no hurry to jump right back on the road again immediately. IF we'd had more time on the trip, I would certainly have voted to stay put in Wanaka for a second night to relax as it seemed like a pretty little town with the gorgeous scenery I had come to expect in New Zealand. 

The town was situated on the southeastern shore of the country's fourth largest lake, Lake Wanaka, and had some of the country's most striking mountains behind it. Wanaka has been described as both a "welcome mat" and a "launchpad" for nearby Mount Aspiring National Park.

Some people considered laid-back Wanaka to be overshadowed by its more well known neighbor to the south, Queenstown, but I thought the town charming and delightful even though we spent far too short amount of time there. It was just lovely wandering along the waterfront for a while. To have taken a cruise on the lake or enjoyed one of the many hikes nearby would have been the icing on the cake.

The description by the The Hand that Nurtures sculpture said "the contrast between the solidity and weight of this solid concrete sculpture and the tenderness of feeling which it portrays makes the work special. It symbolizes notions of nurturing, safety and protection as well as friendship, openness and honesty." I sure couldn't have said it half as well.

The town was founded during the Gold Rush but the settlement only blossomed a century later with the advent of mass tourism. I read that few other towns have been expanding so quickly in the country.

Strangely enough, the biggest 'sight' in Wanaka is something called That Wanaka Tree that, thanks to the power of social media, has become the most photographed tree in New Zealand! How, I wonder, do 'they' ever come up with such a statistic?!

The story goes that the tree sprouted from a branch that was used as a makeshift fence post to keep stock from wandering. One hundred years later, the drunken trunk leaned out of the water. We were among a dozen or so people from all over that morning who'd come to try and capture the perfect photo of the special willow tree!

Diane had had her hopes set on finding a merino sweater while in New Zealand so we popped in a few shops in Wanaka in the hope she might find one she fancied. However, $400 was more than she wanted to pay which I certainly understood. No, we didn't look in the local Salvation Army store for any - I just a took a photo of it to remind myself that it seemed like every town in the country had a Sally Ann, far more than in the US.

Mid morning we headed north from the center of the South Island toward Haast Pass and the west coast of New Zealand. At Lake Hawea Lookout, there were lovely 180 degree views across the lake of the same name which was flanked by the Barrier, Young and Grandview mountain ranges.

Since the Haast Pass Highway which linked Wanaka and the small community of Haast, opened in 1965 it has become one of New Zealand's most thrilling mountain drives, winding past bluffs, gorges, and waterfalls. Known as being almost as dangerous as it was beautiful we soon understood why we saw a lot of High Crash Rate signs in certain areas, particularly on lakeside roads where drivers would be more tempted to gaze at the scenic views rather than pay attention to the twists and turns of the road. I imagine the signs were also targeted for foreign drivers who weren't used to driving on the left side of the road. 

Another sign we commonly saw in New Zealand told people visiting parks, lookouts, etc not to litter and to take trash with them as they left because there were intentionally no garbage cans available. I know our local park and recreation district has been also trying to get rid of containers, thereby hoping people will adopt the "Pack it in and pack it out" philosophy.

We saw a double rainbow over the lake but my picture of it from the moving car didn't turn out so well for some reason!

One of the highlights I had read about along the highway was Blue Pools where the Makarora and Blue rivers met. Even though the weather was pretty miserable, we stopped, donned our raincoats and began the hike to the pools. 

I have always been unusually sensitive to mosquitoes so the sandflies on the trail to Blue Pools were very uncomfortable. I had only been bothered by the tiny wretches to the same extent once before when Steven and I were in Ecuador in 2017. Explorer James Cook wrote the first European record of a sandfly attack when he came across them in 1774 in Dusky Sound: "Wherever they light, they cause a swelling and such intolerable itching that it is not possible to refrain from intolerable itching." I knew exactly what he experienced as I had about 20 plus sandfly bites on my wrists, hands and lower legs and the marks didn't go away until well after I got home!

In New Zealand, the sandflies were called the Dragon of the Rainforest! I learned that male sandflies were content to live off the sap of plants and that it was the females who are the pest, especially at dawn and dusk as they look for a blood protein to help produce their eggs. 

We traipsed in the rain through an open canopied silver beech forest en route to the pools. 

There was a sign indicating the maximum number of people on this swing bridge was ten. I had fun jumping up and down on the bridge until Diane told me the swaying motion bothered her. 

When the Blue River floods, large quantities of gravel are brought downstream and then deposited in the pools causing them to look a muddy brown color. It takes another flood of the Blue River to wash the gravel downstream and for the pools to return to their normal depth and blue color. 

I was so glad the steady rain didn't dissuade us from going to the pools as we saw beyond-gorgeous azure, glacier-fed water. The pools were so clear that we could see the bottom which made the resident rainbow and brown trout appear as if they were suspended in mid air. The trout migrate up the Makarora River from Lake Wanaka to spawn in the fall and winter months. 

I read that though it was tempting to jump from this swing bridge, it wasn't safe as people have been injured. This young teenage boy, though, had the full encouragement of his parents who filmed him jumping off. They couldn't have been perturbed at any safety concerns - thank goodness, he wasn't injured. 

Thank goodness it was just a short path a little further on to Thundering Falls Lookout as it wasn't the most appealing weather to go hiking in. At 28 meters high, the falls were one of the largest waterfalls in the area. They crashed down a forested hill and ended on the swiftly moving Haast River. Though it was indeed an awesome sight, we'd been a little spoiled the morning before seeing one spectacular waterfall after waterfall cascading down into the Milford Sound. Diane and I joked we were 'waterfalled out' after seeing this one too!

We continued on to Haast which was a four hour drive from Wanaka, choosing to bypass the Roaring Billy Falls because of he weather, running short on time and we'd had our full of falls by then.

I was surprised this boat could travel any where along the Haast River as it looked so shallow in most parts. I read about people opting to walk along the river's gravel bed which would likely have been fun in dryer weather. 

There hadn't been a single distance sign anywhere along the 142 kilometer-long highway connecting Wanaka to Haast in Aspiring National Park. Not a gas station either, but that was another matter. It would have been frighteningly easy to get turned around coming out of one of the many lookouts or turnouts and been blissfully unaware for 50 miles or more! Thank goodness I had great GPS service on my phone the entire time we were in New Zealand as it made a world of difference in a country with so few signs. 

When doing the planning for this trip, I had come across someone's blog in which they'd written of the enjoyable time and good food they'd had at the Hard Antler Bar and Restaurant in tiny Haast located on the west coast. Diane and I normally had been eating sandwiches we'd made in the mornings for lunch but I was able to persuade her we should stop here for lunch. 

As you can see, the ceiling beams were full of antlers - from deer, I guessed, but wasn't sure. We ambled over to the restaurant side on the far side and ordered sandwiches. My chicken one was mouthwatering. I don't know how they do it but the fries in New Zealand were consistently the hottest ones ever compared to those I've eaten anywhere else in the world! If our sandwiches hadn't been so filling, I would have loved to share one of the desserts as they all looked so yummy. A sign reminded people that "Life is uncertain ... Eat dessert first." I shall have to remember that next time I'm in a restaurant!

More signs for my 'bathroom sign collection!' There was even a 'Wounded' sign which I figured meant it was for handicapped people. 

From Haast, we drove north along the coast on the World Heritage Highway toward Fox Glacier. Just a half-hour north of Haast, we stopped at Knights Point Lookout, one of the many places on the highway to explore the magnificent natural landscape. The area had been designated as a wildlife refuge to provide special protection for tawaki or Fiordland crested penguins. 

A little further on, Diane, who was driving as always on our trip, kindly pulled over to the side of the road to allow what she thought was a faster car to pass her only to discover he wanted to turn in where she'd stopped. We therefore accidentally discovered lovely Lake Paringa which we hadn't heard of before. It was pouring cats and dogs by then so we didn't get out for more than a couple of minutes to admire the pretty scene.

Following the coast it was strange to think the Tasman Sea was located on the west side of New Zealand and the Pacific Ocean was on its east side, as we in North America always consider it being on the west!

Photos of the stunning drive northbound including Bruce Bay:

There must have been a Maori settlement near Jacob's River because this Maori cemetery was the first time anywhere we'd been on the South Island that we'd noticed any indication of the country's indigenous population. A few miles beyond the cemetery was a creek named Te Naihi, an obvious Maori name.

We were fortunate that there was so little traffic on the scenic road as otherwise it would have been slow going on the almost countless one-lane bridges over the inlets that stretched out into the sea.

Since we'd 'missed' feasting on dessert in Haast, we made up for it in the town of Fox Glacier instead before the final push to the town of Franz Joseph, less than an hour away, and our destination for the next two nights.  

It was so odd seeing ferns growing, seemingly horizontally, out of the cliffs along the side of the road. 

This sculpture of a kiwi bird in Franz Joseph was unfortunately as close as we ever came to see the animal while in New Zealand. 

These photos of the spectacular mountains and mysterious landscape around Franz Joseph made me think we'd been transported to another world!

Next post: Hiking in Franz Joseph Glacier!

As I post this on Easter, April 21st, 2019, from suburban Denver, I wish each of you a special and peaceful day with family and friends.