Scenic stops on the Haast Pass: Fox to Wanaka, NZ

Trying to escape the bad weather that has been hounding our attempts to hike on the glaciers we took off south in search of thrills and adventures. We knew that Queenstown, the city of adventure, lay at the end of this road, but what we didn't know was how amazing the journey itself would be.

Roaring Billy Falls

   We had heard about road closures and curfews on driving the mountain pass between Haast and Wanaka, so we made sure to get an early start. We stopped to check out Hunt's Beach on a tip from a local surfer but the massive swell from a few days earlier had all but disappeared. Once we turned inland and passed the tiny village of Haast, the scenery started changing into dramatic mountain landscapes. Often the road would wind its way following a river before inclining more for a climb higher into the mountains.
  The scenery was beautiful from the road but it was the numerous trails leading into the jungle that provided the most stunning views. Huge, cascading waterfalls lay hidden just off the road. Luckily most of the trails have sign post and pull off spots for cars. It felt like we were stopping every twenty minutes for a new hike. It turned out to be a very good thing we got an early start. We didn't pass the big rock slide area for a few hours into the pass drive. Apparently a new waterfall had formed right next to the road which undercut the road foundation. We made it through after a short wait as they try to rebuild as more waterfalls hinder their efforts.

Under the bridge at Blue Pools

  The most amazing stop along the pass was the Blue Pools hike. It is a short 20 minute hike on a well maintained gravel path. You head across a beautiful river, surrounded by lush green mountains, on a fun swinging bridge. Eventually you come to a second suspended bridge which looks down on the clearest, azure blue water I have ever seen. You could see right to the bottom and the resident brown trout looked like they were floating in air. It was a great place for pictures, in fact only one thing could make it better, jumping into the water.

Azure blue glacier melt

  Jack scoped out a perfect cliff jumping ledge just up from the bridge. A protruding rock, covered in green moss, jutted out over the deeper part of the river. After setting up my camera on the bridge Jack took the leap of a lifetime and landed perfectly. Myles jumped next, followed by me, and then both boys again. It was a solid jump, I figure from the pictures to be about 40ft high. When I hit the water I thought I had hit too hard because my body tingled and burned, then I realized I had just jumped into glacier melt! The water would have frozen if it hadn't been moving so fast. Luckily the current pushed us right down to the exit spot. I think we all had smiles frozen to our faces on the walk back through the forest to the car.

That just happened!