Fox Glacier to Queenstown-Stunning Scenery April 6, 2011

We returned to Lake Matheson this morning to see if we could catch a better reflection. The mountains were better and we did get a better picture with the reflections. The spider webs were amazing as well.



The best of the south island so far was our journey today. We traveled south along the Tasman Sea to Haast (a German geologist who traveled these parts in the late 1800's and named the Franz Josef Glacier). We passed beautiful sea stacks and at one location, a seal colony where often elephant seals were seen this time of year. It was too far away for a picture of the seals but we could see that they were there through the binoculars. As we drove south to this point, the mountains were on our left and the sea on our right.

We turned away from the coast and drove along the Haast River. It is a beautiful glacier blue and at one overlook, we catch a glimpse of a jet boat going down river. Looming overhead are tall peaks of the southern alps with snow on them.

As we reach the Haast Pass, we head down through the river valley and find the hills are now browner and dryer, like the inter mountain area of the US and CA. We see lots of sheep and cattle. The terrain reminds us of the American west, but yet not so.

We climb and descend to travel along beautiful lakes that have wonderful colors; all shades of blue. The mountains just train along the horizon with their snow-covered peaks. We are now in the area where Lord of the Rings was filmed. You can see why movies were filmed here. The scenery is spectacular and huge. This is in the area of Lake Wanaka and the town of the same name.

Going south on what appears to be the shorter route to Queenstown, we pass through ski areas and climb and climb up to a high spot, which I suggested should show us a spectacular view of Queenstown. Well it is the highest spot with a paved road in New Zealand and the view is wonderful. But then we had to drive down over switchbacks and hairpin turns with a speed limit of 15 k's. It was an amazing view if you were the passenger.

At the bottom we stopped at the historic town of Arrowtown. It is an old gold mining town that has been restored and it is popular in the fall for its colors. It also has a one block main drag with stores, cafes and tourist shops.

Queenstown is madness-lots of traffic and stores and shops and adventures. More tomorrow.