Well the scenery has just gotten better and better.
The skies dropped rain on the landscape overnight and early in the morning, freshening everything up nicely. After it cleared up enough we departed our little beachside cabin and drove further South down the West coast, catching glimpses of shiny white patches atop the high mountains as we passed through and under the tall, arching, mossy temperate rainforests.
Along the way we stopped at a few gorgeous walkways through the forest and wandered slowly along the mostly wheelchair friendly paths and oohed and ahhed at the glorious sights. Some beautiful waterfalls were situated at the ends of some of the trails too, making wonderful treats for our eyes and souls.
We noted that those tall mountains with remnants of snow and ice clinging to the tops of a few of them looked quite similar in ways to the European Alps, except these ones had deliciously dense rainforests on the lower slopes instead of farmlands or conifer tree plantations.
Soon we climbed up a winding road and eventually passed the Haas Pass at half past four. Then we were confronted with heavily treed and spectacularly deep rocky gorges as we traveled down towards the central lakes region.
By the time we arrived at Lake Wanaka and the adjacent Lake Hawea the forests had given way to more open and drier country, but with incredible wide and panoramic views. We found a lovely Air BnB cabin in the tiny lakeside township of Hawea and ate an enormous meal of juicy roasted lamb at a local restaurant. With distended stomachs we returned to our comfy cabin for the night.
We WILL make Queenstown tomorrow, we keep telling ourselves.
Click to enlarge
Gorgeous!
I imagine this is how Europe would have looked back before humans chopped everything down.