Day 5
so after waking up and being assaulted by the sand flies we headed south to Haast, changed clothes and brushed our teeth in the visitors center, and then headed out of town following Highway 6 up along the Haast River and up through the mountains to Wanaka
(view from the turnoff we first stopped at, the bit of beach you can see off to the left is where Thayer and Chase got Yowza stuck)
(looking the other way)
(the infamous beach, and not too bad of a view either)
(other direction)
the next place we stopped was Thunder Creek Falls
then it was Fantail Falls
and then we reached the Gates of Haast
(looking back in the direction we came from)
(the bridge)
(the bridge from the other side, which is the direction we approached it from. the vans are actually illegally parked just off frame to the left)
(under the bridge looking down)
after we came out of the mountains we were at the first of the 5 million lakes that are near Queenstown, which are all beautiful
next we stopped in Wanaka at a little cafe for lunch, but before we went to the cafe we ended up in a residential neighborhood where this was the view from one of the cul-de-sacs
after leaving Wanaka we headed up the Alpine Scenic Route, which had amazing views from the top
(looking towards Queenstown, the river flows into Lake Wakatipu, which is the lake the town sits on. the road in the foreground is the one back down the mountain)
(mountain across the way)
(i walked up a gravel path and this is the view looking back down at the parking lot where you can see Yowza and Pluto as well as Nomad, another spaceship group we happened to encounter up there)
(river again)
(view from the drive down)
after we got past the terrifying part of the drive down we ended up at a lookout that gave a pretty decent view of the valley below us
(this is arrowtown)
after we finally made it all the way back down we then stopped at the "historic" bridge over the Shotover River to scope out the view there
(the new bridge)
(the Remarkables)
and FINALLY we reached Queenstown
