An early departure this morning meant I had an alarm set for the early hour of half 6 in the morning. Luckily I had packed most my stuff the night before which was pretty lucky as everyone else in my room had literally arrived yesterday. My body had seized up over night for some reason although I managed to walk it off and by 7 I was all ready for the bus. It was a really cold morning which meant I was wrapped up really well for the day as I was shivering, something unlike me!
The coach today was a weird hire coach with sheepskin headrests, and I was on the back seat for once. After leaving our driver spoke to us about the whole hitch hiker incident which happened whilst in Franz Josef, which explained the sirens I heard on Sunday. Luckily I didn't see anything in person, but it just made me think that it is far safer to travel by bus, even if these things are rare. The first stop of the day was on the side of the road by a field of cows. It was here we got out for photos of the imposing Mount Cook and Tasman, nestled behind the impressive Fox Glacier. The reason we had left so early was to see this at sunrise, which was a beautiful sight.
A short drive from here, our next stop was Lake Matheson. This was basically a short walk through woodland to a viewpoint over this still lake. What made this lake so special was the fact on a sunny day the big mountains reflect into the lake. We certainly had that seeing the clouds clearly create an image in the lake, with the mountain range creating this black shadow. Already being covered in snow, Mount Tasman looked higher than Mount Cook but it was in fact just our perspective kicking in as Mount Cook was just further away. After a short while here we went back the way we came and relaxed in the cafe which was in the car park.
When leaving the lake, it took a bit of work to convince the driver we should not tank it to Wanaka and instead do all the stop offs. He said that we could get in early for a nap, but I wanted to see everything possible because that's what I'm here for. Luckily he gave in, and we continued down the coast into our next stop Ship Creek. Our driver thought he was a bit of a joker here saying that the high density of sandflys here were a protected species in NZ! It was here we went dolphin spotting, with no luck, along the shingle beach with a picturesque river mouth. There was even a tower here which was fun to climb and look round the area.
After returning to the bus which had been infested with sandflys, we soon reached the longest bridge in New Zealand. Being a single road, there were two passing points on the bridge. Not long past this point we arrived in our lunch stop for the day, Haast. There wasn't really much exciting here, and we continued up this really remote road past the impressive Gates of Haast which was this cliff by this river. We climbed rapidly here through the mountains here on a dodgy road which is only open at daytime. This is due to the fact there are frequent landslides along the road and they monitor the cliff stability at night.
Continuing along this road, we were told about how two people also recently died along the road and weren't discovered until over a week later. Being the most direct route to Wanaka, apparently the road was closed after this happened for a few months and the kiwi bus had to go via Christchurch and Queenstown to get to Wanaka! A 14 hour trip on a good day. When finally leaving this remote stretch of road we made our next stop off at Pleasant Flat. It was here we got views of the imposing Mount Hooker which was covered in snow.
The next stop was just a further 5 minutes down the road to see the Thunder Creek Falls. This was a massive waterfall which fed into this river full of rapids. We didn't spend long here, instead cracking on to our next stop to see the Blue Pools. This included a short walk through the forest to yet more swing bridges. We tested the strength of one which was a 10 person limit, getting at least 20 people on it! When reaching the second bridge some people jumped off into the water below, which was amusing to watch. Someone dropped their go pro to the bottom though!
We spent a while here in the end, finding out the water was freezing in the process. We then got back on the bus for a stop off just down the road in Makarora. This was a so called ice cream stop which is becoming very frequent, and was more of a toilet stop for me. It was funny when driving down the next stretch of the road which was past farms and fields, because everytime we passed a field of sheep our driver would frantically beep his horn which made them leg it! When he did this to a field of deer though the whole field just lifted their heads! We soon got to the large Lake Wanaka which was a good sign, and after following this for a while we turned off for a viewpoint stop over the neighbouring Lake Hawea. It was a very scenic spot.
During our time here however the Stray bus overtook us, the rival company. Luckily we overtook them again which was important in terms of checking into the hostel, as they can only check in 1 bus at a time. We finally arrived into Wanaka at around 4.15, and after a short guided tour round the small town by bus, we checked into our Base hostel, purpose built a few years ago. From here I had a little look round town which had free WiFi all over, as well as brilliant views of the mountains surrounding the large lake the town lay on. There were plenty of shops here too including a large supermarket for a town of only 7000 people or so, although there were a few too many sandflys for comfort.
Dinner this evening was vegetable lasagne and french stick, all pre prepared as it was a ready meal which was reduced in New World. I was debating between going to the hostel quiz night, or going to the cinema this evening. In the ended I opted for a trip to the iconic cinema paradiso to watch a film called Noah based on the biblical story. What makes this cinema iconic is the layout which was loads of sofas, armchairs and even cars instead of the normal cinema seating! I was proper at home taking my shoes off and putting my feet up on the sofa. There was even an interval in the film which came with the waft of hot cookies which were given out at half time. In terms of the film, let's say it was a twist on the bible that religious people probably wouldn't like. I won't go into writing film reviews!
It wasn't until gone 11 until I got out of the cinema, definitely one more of my more well spent evenings and after going into town for WiFi I headed straight to bed, being quiet as the whole room had already zonked out. It was probably the quiz night that did it, although on my way to my room I heard someone had won a free jet boat ride!
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