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Today Rosie and The Operator are heading towards Wanaka over the Crown Ridge Road via Cardrona. This road at its summit is 1067m above sea level and is the highest sealed road in NZ.
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You can imagine how the camper felt about that….some of the corners were rated 15km and hour and we couldnt really go any faster….we climbed and we climbed the twisting turning mountainous road which is covered in snow come winter and were awarded with a fantastic view of the valley halfway up.
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Down the road was the iconic Cardrona Hotel which was established in 1863, just in time to meet the thirst of the miners as they left the West Coast to flock to the Otago Gold mines. It was 9.30 in the morning, too early for a beer and Rosie didnt want to be accused of being an Aucklander by asking for a flat white….
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Then up a hill and down the other side and round the corner and you are in another valley with a blue sky and a huge blue lake staring at you. This one was Wanaka and it was a beaut town, half the size of Queenstown and without as much bustle it had a nice small town feel. We stopped for a coffee and a chill on the waterfront and filled the gas bottle and got some more diesel miles…..we have done over 2000 kms to date….crazy eh!
Further on up the road was Hawea….so this is the wee blip, surrounded by all this beauty that we about three times a year mistakenly get their mail…..Hawea, Hawera…..I know which place is the prettiest. We were on the rugged twisting road in the Mt Aspiring National Park and we came across a rock slip with caution notices all around….you know, we have not come across any road works in the whole of the South Island…yet, amazing!.jpg)
This bridge is called The Gates of Haast…it has a thundering river underneath it and is a death defying one way bridge on a corner where tourists stop in stupid places to take photos. The road was getting quite busy, there were camper vans and rentals everywhere…English is not the first language on this tour trail.
The Haast pass road opened in 1965, before this the Maori walked this route bringing West Coast Greenstone to Otago to trade. The road closes in and the wide open vistas are gone, native bush densely clads the hillsides for as far as the eye can see..jpg)
Just up the road is Thunder Creek waterfall, a pleasant 5 min walk took you to a viewing platform overlooking the 28 mt falls. It was lovely and it had a tantalisingly beautiful pool of water that was elevated like it had its own stage at the base which was not accessible because of the raging river in the front.
Haast – Rosie had visions of it being a damp wee town of rainforest on the edge of Fiordland and the gateway to the West Coast….well some of it is true, damp no chance, the wind was fair howling through as we hit the coast. Haast is a clump of disjointed settlements on an open windswept plain, there is nothing to stop here for other than petrol…it is the last station for 120kms.
This bridge we crossed out of Haast was the standard one lane affair, but it was so long it had two passing bays in it. Nearly every river bridge is a one lanner, how many have we crossed, Rosie has lost count. They certainly economise on this coast, they cannot build bridges with two lanes yet they build two tunnels on the east coast for each traffic stream…hand chipped tunnels that is.
Knights Point was named after a surveyor’s dog, come on, they had a lot of things to name on the West Coast back in the day. There is a lookout which shows you the rugged high cliffed shoreline. It was packed full of tourists, tourist buses and campers. Japanese were all gagging and eewwing at the perfectly functional and extremely clean and tidy long drop toilets set on a beautiful concrete base in a modern chamber…..
It had been another long hot day, we had been driving since 8.00am and it was now 3.30, we had stopped at a few DOC camps on the way but they didnt have a nice view or any ambiance so we kept on rolling. We arrived at Lake Paringa another DOC site that did fit the bill, a huge lake with camping up to the waters edge, a nice ‘green’ in the front, toilets and water if you so desired. There were camper parks everywhere, we got a nice site with a picture window view. We set up camp and paid our DOC fees into a little envelope, displayed the receipt in our front window and posted the money into the lock box – $12 for our stay. Ever since we had arrived on the West Coast we have had no cell or internet reception, Rosie was getting a little twitchy….
The Operator went for a walk with his trout rod to see if he was going to be lucky and catch something for tea. Rosie sat in the sun and started reading her new book that she got for Xmas – thanks Sparky and Stitch, I have only read a few chapters and it is brilliant! The camp ground was filing up, Rosie was swatting at a few sandflies that were hovering around, no big deal…she was swatting more and more….some of her neighbours were sitting in the sun wearing long pants and sleeves….Rosie got out the insect repellent and liberally sprayed….no good at all, the little buggers were totally resistant and a blood drinking party was happening on her cankles. It was hot, we observed the dress code of long pants, long sleeves and socks….Rosie did wear her sandals with her socks as a tribute to the west coast. We set out the table and chairs and stubbornly had dinner outside in the swarm….
Before we sojourned inside we liberally sprayed for the few stray sandflies that had breached The Operators hermetic seals and went for a walk around the site, there were 34 different campsites set up and it was a real UN campground alright. And yes, the person by the blue tent in the middle of the picture is wearing a one piece, stripey, black and white baggy cat suit, complete with tail….
Tomorrow we are going to walk up to the Fox Glacier and head on up the road to Hokitika with a few stops in between.
PS – The Operator didnt catch any fish other than a big inanga which he didnt count.
