Monday 23rd March

Wanaka's main street - looking towards the surrounding ranges.

Lake Hawea - on the drive to Wanaka.

Andrew's cute bumble bee photo.

Andrew's cute fantail photo.

The river at the Gates of Haast - you won't believe the trouble Andrew went to, to get this one!

Another photo at the Gates of Haast.

Today we drove from Haast to Wanaka, stopping at some of the famous walks along the Haast Highway including Pleasant Flat (views of Mt Hooker - very cool), Roaring Billy Falls (nothing special), Fantail Falls (quite pretty - but again, what is with the stacks of stones everywhere?), the Gates of Haast (see photos above, which Andrew went climbing all through the gorge to get, while I froze my tits off at the top as he had the campervan key!), and the Haast Pass Lookout track - nice view from the top. Unfortunately the track to the Blue Pools is closed at present as they are replacing the swing bridge and viewing platform, so we couldn't go there - cue major bummer (oh well, we'll have to come back some other time).

We then drove straight through to Wanaka with fantastic views of both Lake Wanaka and Lake Hawea from the road. Once we reached town we stopped for coffee and cake (even though it was 5pm) and had a bit of a wander around the town centre and lake front before finding a campground to bunk down in for the night - we chose Aspiring Campervan Park - very nice 5* place, with awesome showers!