Chapter 4 – February 11, 2021

It was very cold this morning with a howling wind.  Our bach (NZ for holiday home, pronounced batch) was very creaky through the windy and rainy night.  We put on all the layers that we brought and, after managing our foreign correspondence, we headed west.  Our goal was to do a shortish hike to the blue pools (spoiler alert, today they were not very blue). 

First, we had to drive there – through Mount Aspiring National Park, named for Mt. Aspiring, which we think might be the mountain with snow that is shrouded with cloud in some of our photos.  This has got to be one of the most beautiful landscapes – mountains, lakes, forest, even with high winds and a bit of rain. 

We drove along Lake Hawea and then along a ‘neck’ that separates Lake Hawea from Lake Wanaka.  These lakes are ‘finger’ lakes formed by glaciers. Lake Hawea (9^th largest lake in NZ) stretches 35 kilometres from north to south. It lies in a glacial valley formed during the last ice age.  It is fed by the Hunter River. Nearby, Lake Wanaka (4^th largest lake in NZ and our lake for the next two weeks) lies in a parallel glacial valley eight km to the west. At their closest point, a rocky ridge called The Neck, the lakes are only 1,000 metres apart.  The road goes along the neck.

Lake Hāwea is dammed to the south by an ancient terminal moraine created some 10,000 years ago. In 1958 the lake was artificially raised 20 metres to store more water for increased hydroelectric power generation.

After crossing “The Neck”, we continued north along the shore of Lake Wanaka.

Along the way, we entered Mount Aspiring National Park. 

Our hike was easy with a very moderate grade and good footing and two suspension bridges.  We walked through a beautiful mature beech and podocarp forest (out of the strong wind), to pools of deep, clear water flowing into the Makarora River.  The waterfalls are fed by rain, snowmelt, and some remaining glaciers.

By the time we finished the hike, it was raining and blowing something fierce.  As the weather seemed to be coming from the west, we decided not to drive the rest of the Haast Pass to the west coast.  The west coast beaches of the South Island are really dramatic, with angry waves, but we’ll save that for another time.  Today we enjoyed the white caps on the lakes.

We tried to find a place for our cuppa (we’d brought with), but since we could hardly stand straight, we settled for inside the car.

The journey back was lovely, as we moved south east, the weather got nicer and the light played beautifully on the mountains.  Wild rose hips were plentiful (we didn’t pick any).  We stopped to inspect the Lake Hawea dam.

By the time we got back to our house, it was a gorgeous day and we could begin to shed layers.  We did a couple of hours of work and then walked into Wanaka along the lake (10 minutes or so) to an excellent dinner – miso roasted ‘carrot no dog’ for Frances and local salmon for Jim. The photos really speak for themselves. Frances tried a local cider (maybe a different one next time), and Jim had a local pilsner that was on tap (very nice).

Here’s hoping that everyone has a great day, and we’ll catch up again tomorrow!