A little underslept and grumpy that the sky has now cleared just in time for us to leave, we headed on our long drive south to the adventure capital of the world, Queenstown, stopping at a number of scenic highlights on the way.
The first was Lake Matheson, the mirror lake and one of the most photographed sights in NZ. This is my kind of view, stunning snow capped Mount Cook and Mount Tasman in the distance reflected in the clear ripple-less water and surrounded first by fields of cows and then a forest of ferns.
Further along the highway we drove off to take in Thunder Falls, which make Huka Falls look like a leaking bath tap it's so big. You could balance along the rocks right up close too. We stopped at Knights Point, and then we started to hit the big guns - the huge lakes of Wanaka and Hawea. Bright blue lakes created in the valleys of these huge mountains. These mountains are the kind that kids dream up when they are first taught about them, one of the best views of the trip so far.
We got to take a long per stop at the town of Wanaka itself, on the southern tip of the lake to have coffee, tea, ice cream and generally get gradually burnt while kids played in the water and huge fish came up to the surface of the water to greet us.
Our final view is the picture of autumn. Golden hills and mountains rolling down past the Chinese gold mining town of arrowtown to Queensland in the distance. Group photo time! Good thing too, as who knows who will survive the extreme sports over the next few days...
No comments:
Post a Comment