Monday 28th February - Haast to Wanaka
Aurora_b
Mike and Liz Downing
Sun 27 Mar 2011 04:44
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Haast village is where the Haast river reaches the sea
and the western end of the Haast Pass, the way through the mountain
range rising to 7,800ft on one side and up to Mt Aspiring at 9,800ft
on the other. On the way through the pass the road passes the Fantail Falls and
further on, the Blue Pools and another swingbridge - they like them over here.
They are all very well constructed, so no worries there then, we hope! As
the road leaves the pass it runs along the side of 2 beautiful lakes both around
30 miles long, firstly Lake Wanaka and then Lake Hawea, and then back
to Lake Wanaka. Wanaka is a lovely inland town surrounded by mountains
and nestling on the side of Lake Wanaka. In winter it's one of the
main ski centres in the south island and a centre for walking in the
mountains, so it was a 2 night stop at another motel to be able to explore.
All the motels we've stayed in have been good, but this was one of the
posher ones and the view from our upstairs room was fantastic -
no need to walk really, just sit on the verandah and look out at the mountains
surrounding the town. But walking we did do, the next day, taking the car
for a short drive to Diamond Lake and a walk (or tramp as they call it
here) up in the mountains.
 Fantail Falls
 Blue Pools - all the way up the
river.
 Swingbridge at the Blue
Pools
 It's all newly constructed - they must have known
we were coming!
 Lake Hawea on the road to
Wanaka.
 The view from our motel room
verandah.
 Diamond Lake and the start of our
walk.
 The walk was up grassy mountain tracks except
the for a very steep section where some kind soul had
constructed this staircase! (They are very
good over here - all the paths, tracks, bridges etc are well looked
after.)
 Looking down on Diamond
Lake.
 Views from the trail.
 More views - Wanaka is to the far left, the other
side of the lake.
 Not quite at the top, but the size of
the road in the valley shows that it's a fair way
up.
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