Continued from last
post, we were amazed by the professional photography of the Lake Matheson from
many postcards, and so we insisted to visit this Lake though the best time to
capture the reflection of Mt. Cook should be at dawn or dusk before there is
any breeze. The lake is located just 5 minute driving from Fox glacier and we
need to walk for 30 minutes to reach the Jetty point which offers the best view
of the Mt. Cook and Mt. Tasman reflected in the waters.
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| Top: Lake Matheson @ Fox glacier; Bottom: The peak of Mt. Cook |
The weather wasn’t
good, as we can see the peaks of Mt. Cook and Mt. Tasman were covered by the
clouds. Waters weren’t still enough and that made us hardly to see the real
reflection of the mountains and glaciers. As the walk and lunch time took us
quite long (we spent almost two hours there), we only departed from Fox glacier
around 2PM. We still have 280KM to go before to reach Wanaka.
The road now began
with our car passed through a long bridge across the river flats of Cook and
Karangarua rivers, accompanied by the scenery as dominated by the coastal
forest and mountain peaks. The tall forests of South Westlands continued until
we reached at Knight's Points. Here, we can see the rugged coastline again before
the road twisted and turned around the steep headlands as we moved south toward
the Haast river.
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| Top: Rugged mountain of coastal peaks @ Haast highway; Bottom: Another west coastlines |
From the Haast
township, we officially entered into one of the tree mountain passes where road
crosses over the Southern Alps (the other two being Arthur pass and Lewis
pass). This road is part of the Mt. Aspiring national park and forms the
boundary between the West Coast and Otago regions. The pass itself is
well-known for its steep forested slopes and offers many walks, waterfalls and
lookouts point for photo opportunities. The road is surrounded by the tall and
wild rainforests.
Half way through
the road, we stopped at Blue pools at Haast pass. We insisted to visit this
place because of the deep azure blue color it gives. Too bad it was almost dawn
where we were here, literally, we were running to get to this place (30 minutes
walking distance from the entry). I believe if we were there earlier, the blue
color will be more striking. Never mind, it still amazed us, with such blue and
clear water it gives.
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| Blue Pools |
Because of the
early sunset during winter season, we were quite late and missed the chance to
see the stunning view of Lake Hawea and Lake Wanaka during the final leg of the
journey towards Wanaka. I think our luck wasn’t that bad, and it was so
coincident that we got to see the Supermoon that evening. The moon reflected in
the waters of Lake Hawea, was so incredible!
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| Supermoon reflection on Lake Hawea, on 7PM! |
Tonight we were
lucky that the motel owner upgraded our 7-people room to two rooms. It was one
of the best motels throughout our stays in this road trip. I will definitely
come back again, for next time to grab the chance to see the stunning view of
Lake Wanaka and Lake Matheson.
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| Dinners and the room of Fairway Motel |
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