Apr 15th: Wānaka to Franz Josef

Day 12 (day 8 in New Zealand)

A longer trip today of 289km (180 miles). 

After checking out we had a quick visit to photograph a famous willow tree growing out of the lake known as #ThatWanakaTree (see Wikipedia or Instagram). It is over 70 years old but, sadly, in recent years has suffered some vandalism.


If there was one word the two of us have over-used in recent days it is, “Wow!”. There are SO many opportunities to view and photograph stunning views. This has the effect of making journeys taken longer than expected!

After driving for 90 minutes I was wondering if I was going to get my morning coffee. We hadn’t seen a house let along a town for miles (and only a few cars). Eventually we came across a little cafe/fuel station in Makarora on State Highway 6 at about 11:30. 

Further up the road we pulled into a scenic rest stop for a 20 minute walk to Blue Pools. Unfortunately we couldn’t see them as the two bridges were closed “having reached the end of their natural life” according to the notice. One brave guy swam across. I was expecting him to be washed away such was the strength of the current. 

Driving in New Zealand is an absolute joy. The roads are well maintained (we’re yet to see a single pothole despite the extreme weather they suffer here) and hardly any cars on the road.


There must be many thousands of spectacular waterfalls in this country. We stopped to view several just on our drive today. The video below is of the one at Thunder Creek Falls. 


At around the halfway point we reached the west coast and drove along beside the Tasman Sea for a while eventually passing Bruce Bay, which looks like a surfers’s paradise but there were none there. 

We finally pulled into the small tourist town of Franz Josef at 5pm just below the glacier of that name. I dropped into the office of the firm we hope will be taking us by helicopter for a hike around the glacier tomorrow. The weather has caused them to cancel most trips recently and ours is currently looking 50/50. Hey ho, see che sarà sarà but fingers crossed.

After checking into our hotel, and a quick trip to the local supermarket for a few essentials, we stopped for a very satisfying meal and pint in The Landing Restaurant & Bar. The local ale, Speight’s Gold, was rather good. 

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