It has been a while, since the last entry. But now that I am back at it, I will show first a few more pictures from October, when my sister was visiting. After out incredible dolphin encounter, Anna and I said goodbye to the others and went on a 9 days trip around the south island.
Our first stop was Marahau to go hiking for two days in the Able Tasman National Park. As I have been there before, you can check out the Abel Tasmen post from back then. After this, Anna and I were driving down the West Coast and stopped almost everywhere from the Nelson Lakes, over Westport and Greymouth, to Wanaka and Queenstown plus a few of bits and pieces in between. Here are a few pictures I took on this trip and at the end of this post you’ll find a map with all of our stops.
We stopped at both Nelson Lakes, Rotoroa in the way down and Rotoiti on the way up. But I have to say that Lake Rotoroa is quite a detour and there is absolutely nothing around. Really nice for a few days of camping and hiking, but too far out there for a quick stop. Lake Rotoiti on the other Hand, is worth stopping on the way from/to Picton any day. Especially as you can feed eels under the jetty.
The highway along the west coast is very beautiful. Especially the stretch between Greymouth and Westport is one of the most stunning coastal roads I have seen so far, with great cliff and wonderful beaches. A good stop along this stretch are the pancake rocks and the blow hole. The pancake rocks are lime stone formations, which look like stacked pancakes due to weather influences. The blow hole is a natural fountain, that spits water straight into the air when the high tide was clash against the rocks. Sadly we missed the ladder, as it was still hours away from hight tide, also the good photography spots where taken already anyways.
We stopped at the Franz Josef Glacier on our way down, and at the Fox Glacier on our way up. But sadly we had rainy weather both times. Instead of going on a hike in the area we decided, that we wanted to see at least from a distance. So we went on the little walk to both glaciers, the Franz Josef and the Fox that take you as close as you can get. It is absolutely worth it, even on a cloudy and rainy day.
Coming down from the glaciers, we made a quick beach stop in Hasst, before going up the pass to Wanaka. On this road you can find the blue pools, which is the clearest river I have ever seen. You could see the trout standing in the current. I don’t have many pictures from our stay in Wanaka and Queenstown, as I have been there before.
Driving out to Okarito was a sweet little detour despite the bad weather. Okarito is a tiny beach town at a big lagoon. There is the nice little Pakihi Walk, that takes you through a pakihi swamp before climbing through the native bush to a lookout platform. At the top we had a great view up and down the coast, of the surrounding rainforest and could guess the Kā Tiritiri o te Moana (Southern Alps) in the clouds. On a good day you will have a clear view of Mount Cook, and a glimpse of the Franz Josef Glacier.
After the West Coast, we made it down to Fjordland and the Milford Sound.
