Great Kiwi road trip: Day 6 - West Coast

It was only 7AM as we kick-started our West Coast journey from Picton, and the final destination is Franz Josef. This was the highlight of this Kiwi road trip as we were going to cover almost half of the South Island in a day, with a total driving distance of 581 KM to be completed in 10 hours.

The journey began as we took a scenic drive of 40KM winding road - Queen Charlotte Drive from Picton. After 500 M as we entered the track, we stopped for the first Look Out point: The picturesquare of Picton. We continued the drive, and almost in every 3 to 5KM, there is another Look Out/scenic point. 

Top left: Picton and us; Top right: the panoramic picture and guide of the Queen Charlotte drive. Bottom: One of the scenic look point at Queen's Charlotte Drive.

These points offered the beauty of the view out across the sounds, simply breathtaking. We used 2 hours to complete this narrow, winding and most are unsealed Queen Charlotte Drive. This is probably the very reason that dragged our planning to reach Franz Josef at 4PM. No doubt, the stunning views overlook the Mahau sounds, Pelorusestuaries and the Havelock town is worth the time we spent on this road.

Scenery along the Queen's Charlotte drive

Our next scenic highlight was the Wairau Valley as we exited from Queen Charlotte Drive and towards Murchison via SH63. This was another different scenic view – more conserved farmlands compared to what we have seen in North Island. As we turned right into SH63 from Renwick, we were jaw-dropped to see our car surrounded by the views of vineyards. Only then we knew we were now in the famous vineyard areas – Marlborough Sounds, the place which produces the best SauvignonBlanc in the world. The weather, the vineyards, the grapes and the wine, it was just a great combination. I could spend whole day in this place, just watching the view is enough to kill my time. 

Vineyards at Wairau Valley, Marborough Sound

Our model - Stephanie, showing to us how to wait at lounge, choose wine from rack, wine tasting then finally got the ideal one back home.

The vineyards continued to accompany us after 20KM from Renwick, and slowly disappeared from our sight when we marched on towards Wairau River and its valley. The scenery now accompanied by narrow roads as parted by half rugged half green hills, and half way through, we can see the Wairau River along the road from our window. As the Wairau River was left behind, we knew we were now approaching closer to Murchison as the mighty Buller River begins. We stopped at Lake Rotoroa for lunch before we continue our West Coast trip. Lake Rotoroa is much bigger compared to its sister – Lake Rotoiti. It is a quiet lake and only a few people were doing some boating activities during our visit. 

Vineyards at Wairau Valley

Road scenery during our trip from Wairau Valley to Murchison

A group picture at this place, which we can't recall the name!

Lake Rotoroa... Don't confuse this with Lake Rotorua. =)

Panoramic view of Lake Rotoroa

It was almost 2PM, and we not even done a half way through to reach our destination! This time, we drove faster and promised no stop is making if it is not necessary. The journey towards Westport was quite scenic, with more forests along the Bulls riverside.  But this view is slowly beaten by the coast view as we towards Punakaiki. Spectacular views of wild beaches and Tasman Sea coasts… are something to leave in our mind forever. 

The scenery along to road towards to Westport

West coast

Pancake rocks and blowholes @ Punakaiki. They are actually a heavily eroded limestone as created from the wind and rain erosion over million of years. During high tides, the sea usually will be burst through a number of blow holes and created a stunning view of water shot upward to a high level

Time was ticking very fast and we still have 200 KM to go before to reach Franz Josef. Our plan to enjoy the scenery of west coast was spoiled as the sky getting darker. With tiring and hungry body as we spent most our time in car today (especially the main driver), many of us getting frustrated and hoped to arrive our destination as soon as possible. We can’t bother to try our best to see the scenery, though we know it is another very scenic view. Roads towards Franz Josef from Hokitika are quite narrow and winding. With no road lamp available, we drive with more cautions. Note: Interestingly about this Hokitika town, it has a roundabout/cross junction track that is shared by a train and road. Imagine within a roundabout, there is a train track. =)

Panoramic view of the sunset and moon rise at both end, picture taken at Greymouth

Sunset at Greymouth

Exactly after 13 hours, we finally made to our destination – the sweet Top 10 Franz Josef Holiday Park around 9PM. The receptionist already left and good thing was, we did make a phone call to notify them that we might be late before they left. They left the key for us. The outside temperature now was around 3 to 4°C. It was freezing cold and thank God, the receptionist put our room just next to the dining lounge. We quickly make for our dinner and soon to go to bed, because we going to wake up early for tomorrow ice trekking trip! It is going to be fun.

Preparing for our dinner

Our comfort beds!