Queenstown to Haast

The drive from Queenstown to Haast covered an amazing range of scenery including lakes, mountains, waterfalls and temperate rain forests. What never fails to amaze us is how delightful ALL the countryside is even between the places one expects to be good. Lakes Wanaka and Howea looked a remarkable turquoise blue from the salts washed down from the mountains above.

We arrived at Haast in the early afternoon in pouring rain and checked into our hotel. Haast is very remote: the nearest petrol station after Haast is 120kms north or 90kms southeast. There is zero mobile phone coverage, just one radio station and the fire brigade takes 2 hours to reach the place. Nearest shopping for essentials is at Wanaka some 1.5 hrs away. We drove to an even more isolated place, Jackson Bay, some 49kms along the coast to the south. From here the nearest settlement around the coast is about 300kms away near Invercargill. The road to Jackson Bay feels very remote indeed, with temperate rain forest and mangrove swamps along the road side and very few cars. At Jackson Bay we were surprised to find a little hut called The Cray Pot which served tea, coffee and fish meals. This must cater for the local fishermen and the occasional curious tourist that turns up. The coffee was very welcome.

This area is good for birds, although we did not spot any new species not already seen. From our hotel room we had good views of spur winged plovers, which are plentiful in NZ.