Day 4 Wednesday - Haast Past to Queenstown

An early start today as we had to rendezvous at 7.45 am at the bus stop - and a complete change of weather with the clouds down to base of mountains.  We headed off on the twisty road south flanked by dense rainforest - lots of hairpin bends and river crossings until we ran along the coast where we stopped at Ship Creek where there was amazing driftwood and small Hector dolphins playing in the surf as the cloud began to lift.

Next the Haast pass, which turns inland across the Southern Alps and is one of the most isolated places in NZ - no people, power, telephone, WiFi for miles. The alpine ridges tower above with deep valleys below but towards Wanaka views widen again and the road hugs the side of Lake Wanaka then Lake Hawea. These are huge icy blue glacial lakes of stunning beauty - we will return to Wanaka later in the trip.

Onwards is Cromwell where wine is produced as well as fruit growing and after this the turn off to Arrowtown before we reached the outskirts of Queenstown, our stop for the next two nights. We're staying at Sherwood - it's a recycled 80s motel that's now an eco community complete with allotment, fire pits, yoga classes and curtains made of army blankets - what's not to like 💕? It was a long day travelling some 350 km but we've made it to the far South.