Lake Matheson walk
We spent quite a few hours on the road yesterday as we made our way from Franz Josef to Wanaka, about 300km away. But the views were spectacular with many mountain ranges along the way. Unfortunately Mt Cook (NZ's highest mountain at over 3700m) and Mt Tasman were covered in cloud so we could only imagine how breathtaking the views would have been on a clear day. We did however get to see the snow peaks of NZ's 2nd highest mountain, Mt Aspiring (3027m).We refueled at Franz Josef before we left as the next petrol stop after Fox Glacier (not far from Franz Josef) is about 150km! There aren't many towns along the way, and those you do pass are very small. We stopped at Lake Matheson, near Fox Glacier, and walked the 1hr circuit around it, a beautiful walk through rainforest. On a clear day you can get spectacular views of Mt Cook and Tasman.
The first main town was Haast, and we stopped for a picnic at Haast beach - where if you didn't wear suncream you'd be burned to a crisp.
Getting a tan on Haast beach
Once thing you notice about NZ roads is that there are a lot of 1-lane bridges - there are a lot of rivers here!
Haast Pass - one of the many views on the way to Wanaka
There were several points where we stopped to view the scenery along the way - they really cater for tourists here!
Knights Point
We arrived at Wanaka around 6pm and checked into our motel. There are Irish influences in this town - the main road in is Ardmore st, and there are also several Irish pubs (including a Scruffy Murphys). The local beer is good - they have their own brewery in Wanaka (called Speights).
Today we're going to the Puzzling Museum (a bit like Willy Wonka's factory), and doing a bit of shopping before setting off to Queenstown, about 120km away.
