New Zealand Part 3 - Haast Valley

Our second day in Wanaka was spent in the Haast Valley.

This is the most southerly of the Alpine passes, and the normal route between the Glaciers and Queenstown.  When I was planning the trip I looked for stops between places, there were more stops between Wanaka and Haast than any other leg.  In some ways it was what we wanted the trip to be, to have time to see the bits inbetween the major sites.

The Department of Conservation produce a guide which was a great starting point. https://www.doc.govt.nz/globalassets/documents/parks-and-recreation/tracks-and-walks/otago/walks-along-haast-highway-brochure.pdf

Even though our plans changed we did not want to miss out on the pass.  It proved to be a great choice - We spent all day there with a fair few stops: Haast Pass Look Out walk, Roaring Billy Falls, Thunder Falls, Fantail Falls. Photostop at Blue Pools (the walk unfortunately closed), several viewpoints on the Haast River, Lake Wanka and Lake Hawae.  For all the stops we made, there were others we had to miss out.  

There was so much in the valley not least how the vegetation changed from the dryer east side, through the valley to the temperate rainforest in the west.

Not the worst place to be stopped at a traffic light for road works

Lake Wanaka

Blue Pools Car Park - unfortunately the bridges were being repaired so we couldn`t go to the pools

Haast Valley Look Out - A 45 minute or so walk through ancient woodland to get views over the valley.

Roaring Billy

This was as far west as we went as the weather was closing in.

On the way back there was a stop at a Haast River view point.

Then onto the Thunder Falls which were literally at the side of the road.

The final falls of the day were the Fantail Falls.

To finish it was then back to Lake Hawae

There may not have been any well known attractions in the Haast Pass, there was so much to see and many 15 - 45 minute walks, which all all ended with a great view.