Haast Pass

Today was one of our longer driving days.  We had to get from Franz Josef down to Wanaka, which involved driving through the Haast Pass,

First thing this morning the weather looked better than yesterday so we went along to the HeliHike people to see if there was any chance of getting up on the ice.  It turned out they had cancelled all today's flights too, due to the cloud, so we missed out again.  They said about 40% of the trips get cancelled.

After filling up with breakfast and petrol, we drove to the car park for Franz Josef Glacier and did a short walk to Peter's Pool.  We then began our long journey.

We stopped at Lake Matheson for a short walk and then drove onto a viewpoint for Fox Glacier.  We then stopped at Knight's Point, and another clifftop viewpoint before stopping in Haast for lunch.  

This afternoon Pleasant Flat, Thunder Creek Falls, The Gates of Haast, Fantail Falls, The Blue Pools and then a couple of viewpoints down the side of Lake Wanaka.

We finally arrived at our hotel at 7.45pm, much in need of dinner!

The main blip is The Gates of Haast, and the extras are a view of the snow capped peaks at Franz Josef this morning and the lovely water at The Blue Pools.