November 22, 2022

November 22, 2022

It rained again last night. That is sounding like a broken record on the Wet Coast of New Zealand. When we woke, Aimee looked out to see clearing skies. We hurriedly got dressed and as we stepped out of our room, it began to pour again. Darn. Back in the room, I read the morning paper.

After an hour or two, we left the town of Fox Glacier, continuing south. With twenty feet of annual rainfall, there is no shortage of rivers. To save money, New Zealand has mostly built narrow one lane bridges outside the urban areas. Combined with winding roads travel is slow.

We stopped at two scenic lookouts along the coast to use the bathroom and stretch our legs. We seem to be leapfrogging three tour buses doing the same itinerary. We are also seeing loads of camper vans. At one time that was going to be our plan. I am glad we deferred. RVing in the rain is no fun.

At the town of Haast, we turned inland and followed the large Haast River upstream. The road soon climbs a narrow gorge and we enter Mount Aspiring National Park. One benefit of rain is roaring waterfalls. We stopped at two; a very tall skinny Thunder Creek and a gushing Fantail Falls. We took an hour hike out to see Blue Pools, but with the rain it is not so blue. Unfortunately I am finding my old rain gear is not up to New Zealand standards and I am drenched.

Once over Haast Pass we descend down to Lake Wanaka. This is one of many glacier carved finger lakes on the eastern interior side of the Southern Alps. We follow the cliff road along this lake, before crossing to Lake Hawhea. They are probably a beautiful blue color in clear weather.

We end the day in the town of Wanaka on the southern tip of its namesake lake. We get a break in the rain long enough to haul our luggage into the hotel. After checking in we have a delicious Taco Tuesday very late lunch. We then went shopping for new rain gear. Wanaka seems like a nice town full of helpful friendly locals.

After an hour or so of chilling out, we noticed the sun has popped out. We can’t let this opportunity pass, so we get dressed and have a nice walk along the lakefront. With the snow-capped Southern Alps in the distance, the scenery is beautiful. We chuckle when we see the local attraction. For some reason there is a small tree growing thirty yards into the lake. A small crowd of tourists are bunched on the shore snapping photos.