Crown Range Pass

The Crown Range Road is the highest sealed road in New Zealand at 1076 metres above sea level.

In February 1860, W G Rees and P Von Tunzelman were the first Europeans to cross the pass, searching for sheep pasture and burning the speargrass and matagouri on route.

In 1861, Alfred Duncan drove the first sheep to the Rees run at Wakatipu. After crossing the Clutha River at Albert Town, they moved up the Cardrona Valley and over this pass, where they saw the 'promised land of the Rees'.

Early in 1863 hundreds of gold seekers used this route to the Arrow and Skippers Diggings.

In 1877 the first tourist trips using horse drawn coaches drove over the pass.

In 2008 the road was sealed. It is now a major tourist route bringing the communities and ski fields of Queenstown and Wanaka closer.

The vegetation consists mainly of tussock as the road winds its way down through the rugged mountainous pass with glimpses of Lake Wakatipu in the distance. We were up here at 8am, the puddles were frozen and it was a mear -2C with a bitter wind. The image was taken on our return trip in the afternoon when the light was flickering between the clouds, unfortunately the wind was still present - I didn't linger for too long outside the car.

A wonderful morning spent in Arrowtown, I walked around the Chinese settlement while hubby had a meeting at the museum. It was frosty on the ground but warm in the sun.

Thanks for stopping by with your lovely words, stars and hearts, they are truly appreciated. I look forward to being able to catch up with your journals when I return home, in the meantime keep well blippers :)

Edit: Looks great in large, really shows the vegetation and sense of height, bearing in mind the road winds down to the level of Lake Wakatipu in the distance.