Wanaka to the West Coast
Leaving Aoraki/Mt. Cook, it was time to end our zig-zagging route around the south end of the south island and go to the west coast and head north. So the day was mostly a driving day, with a few short stops. The total driving distance for the day about 400 km/5 hours.
Everything went smoothly driving from our campsite at Aoraki/Mt. Cook to Wanaka. Wanaka was pretty busy and it was a beautiful day, so there were many people wandering around town and enjoying the beach at Lake Wanaka. We found a restaurant that was not mobbed and had an edible, although not spectacular lunch and then we walked along the lakeshore to the “famous” That Wanaka Tree. The lake is super shallow, but the tree is growing in the lake and it’s quite scenic with the lake and mountains, however we had to wait for the people who waded out there to finally move to get the picture I had in mind.
Departing from Wanaka, our next planned stop was the Blue Pools, but a couple kilometers before the entrance, we were stopped due to a head on car collision and the road was closed for about two hours. We chose not to turn around and go back to Wanaka, but instead to wait and so we got our chairs out and sat on the road in the shade.
Once the road reopened, although it was getting late, we made our planned stop at the Blue Pools. It’s a short walk to the pools and it was a warm day, so many people were swimming, which made me sad, since we didn’t have time to stay, and it looked very cool and refreshing.
On the way back to the parking lot, we got a good view of a Tui and its wacky song.
We also stopped briefly at two waterfalls.
Our last stop was for a view over the ocean once we finally got the west coast.
Our stopping point for the night was Lake Paringa DOC Campsite. It was not large and was pretty full when we arrived, but they did have a few spots reserved for people who had reserved online in advance, which worked well for us, since I reserved all our campgrounds in advance. That said, as with the majority of the campgrounds we stayed at, there were no designated sites. There was running water and flush toilets, but the water was not potable.
The view over the lake was pretty, but it was also extremely buggy (sandflies) and was quite humid. This is the spot that felt most jungly on our entire trip, the forest was very dense and the bugs were very loud.
