We drove into the town of Wānaka, about an hour south of our B&B, in order to do laundry and stock up on groceries. We took some time to walk along the lakefront. Wānaka is at the south end of large Lake Wānaka and is a summer resort town and winter ski town. The area enjoys a ‘semi-continental’ climate with 4 distinct seasons, winter being considered ‘extreme’ by NZ standards, with single digits at night and frequent snowfall. We enjoyed a sunny, balmy day today!

“The Hand That Nurtures” art sculpture on the lakefront park!

At the other end of the lakefront beach we found “That Wānaka Tree”, possibly the most famous tree in NZ, or at least the most photographed!

Our photo, the Instagram version on top, reality below. Lots of people milling around to get the perfect photo!

The tree began as a willow branch pushed into the lakebed to act as a fence post over 80 years ago. It has survived droughts, harsh winters and too much love! To see photos of the tree in all weather conditions click HERE! We continued our walk along the lake and found several other “Wānaka” trees, none as famous, or crowded as THAT Wānaka tree!

That other Wanaka tree! And Ruby Island in Lake Wanaka, a camping spot for canoes and kayakers.

Our outing today to The Blue Pools in Mt. Aspiring National Park didn’t take us too far from our B&B in the tiny mountain hamlet of Makarora. We drove the 10 minutes up the road, parked and started on the short trek across the Makarora river on a stout swing bridge then along the new wood walkway on the embankment and across the second stout bridge, this one over the Blue river as it emptied into the Makarora river.

The crystal clear water of the Blue river flowing out of the mountains. You can see the shadow of the bridge we are on, crossing the river.

A large pool is formed as the glacial debris flowing from the mountains builds up at the confluence of the Blue and Makarora rivers. Several brave souls were plunging into the ice cold waters! We did not partake!

We were glad we got there a little early, when we left the large parking lot was completely full! We continued to a less visited spot almost directly across the valley from the Blue Pools, up Cameron Creek to a little lookout platform.

The platform was cordoned off due to instability from a slip below it. But we had a great view across the valley to where the Blue river carved through the mountains.

We set off this morning on our move to the southern end of the Southern Alps. We drove through the town of Franz Josef, stopping to get some groceries because this is the biggest town (population of about 500) between here and our destination of Makarora.

The view from the main street in Franz Josef, looking up at the Franz Josef glacier high in the mountains.

The road took us south along the coast in spots, then turned inland and followed the Haast river through the Haast pass, named by the provincial geologist Julius von Haast when making the first official crossing over the pass in 1863.

Thunder Creek Falls, one of 3 large falls along the pass route.

Our last night in Ōkārito we enjoyed a beautiful sunset on the wild west coast!

The nearby Pakihi Walk Lookout affords you a fantastic view of the Southern Alps on a good day. Unfortunately today was not a good enough day. We took the short hike to the viewing deck, but clouds obscured the view of the mountains for us, so we took a trail around the hilltop viewing platform.

The trail led into the remnant rimu tree forest, but as the sign says, ‘No Exit’. The trail goes out to a lagoon, not to the beach, but we enjoyed being in the cool regenerating forest and turned around when we reached the marshy area.

A long ago naturally fallen rimu tree that we had to step over has amazing bark detail.

We finished our 2 mile walk and returned to the tiny enclave of Ōkārito and went down to the beach. You should be warned however, that the Wild West Coast beaches are not to be trifled with! They are not ‘bathing-beauty’, white sand swimming beaches. They are wild, rugged, dangerous places where you are NOT encouraged to swim!

One lonely fisherman in the distance who drove down to the water’s edge. The only other people were a few tourists who stopped briefly, like us, to snap some pictures of the empty, grey sand and cobbles with drift wood scattered along the tide line. I did find a small piece of pounamu (NZ jade) worn and polished by the rough sand and crashing waves over millennia.