On Walkabout In: Te Wahipounamu World Heritage Area

Traveling South on Highway 6 on the Wild West Coast of New Zealand’s South Island, eventually the road turns away from the coast and proceeds into the depths of the island’s Southern Alps.  This road through the Southern Alps traverse New Zealand’s Southwest World Heritage Area known in the local Maori dialect as Te Wahipounamu on its way to the South Island’s tourist Mecca of Queenstown:

The road through this incredible landscape is littered with numerous trails and some of the most spectacular scenery in the entire country:

The road through these mountains known as Haast Pass begins at the pass’ namesake village of Haast.  Just a short drive from the village majestic glacier carved peaks came into view:

These mountains are called the Southern Alps for good reason because many of these peaks do a good impersonation of their European namesake:

The road through these mountains initially follows along the banks of the Haast River:

The size of the bed of this river makes it easy to imagine what an incredible sight this river must be when it is flowing at its maximum capacity during the spring melt.  Further up the highway the road moves away from the river and traverse a valley surrounded on each side by incredibly rugged peaks:

The peaks on each side of the highway were snow capped and made for quite an amazing sight:

About half away across the Southern Alps my wife and I decided to stop and hike one of the trails to an area known as the Blue Pools:

The path to the Blue Pools was lined with dense trees and underbrush:

Eventually the trail came to a narrow suspension bridge that crossed a river of incredibly blue water:

Here is the view across the bridge from the opposite end:

Here is a view from a short walk down the river:

The clearness of the water of the Makarora River was amazing:

The reason for such incredibly clean water is because this water is literally come straight from the melting snows of the peaks surrounding this valley:

Across the suspension bridge and short way walk further down the trail we eventually came upon the Blue Pools which easily lived up to their name:

These pools take on a deeper blue color because they are not flowing like the nearby river is.  When the water from these glaciers is left to stand still they take up a much deeper blue color.  Really incredible.

After hiking back to our campervan from the Blue Pools we then continued down the highway where the valley widened further allowing some farms to operate deep in the mountains:

These small farms have to have some of the world’s best scenery especially those with clear views of Mt. Aspiring:

Mt. Aspiring is really quite a sight to see.  It is not as high as Mt. Cook being only 3,033 meters (9,950 feet) but it as just as awe inspiring to see as its larger cousin:

Eventually the wide valley gave away to an even wider lake named Lake Wanaka:

Like the many rivers that flow into this lake, the water is incredibly blue and clean and over watched by incredibly scenic peaks:

This pyramid shaped peak was an especially incredible sight to behold:

Here is a closer look at this scenic peak:

Lake Wanaka is an incredibly long lake that I am willing to bet every natural fresh water lake in all of Australia could probably fit into:

After a short drive crossing over a mountain range the highway once again provides another stunning view of yet another lake, Lake Hawea:

The highway continues to follow Lake Hawea before reaching the regional population center of Wanaka:

Further down the road the an extremely wide valley opens up that is filled with many vineyards.  One side of the valley containing these vineyards is dominated with snow capped peaks:

While the other side of the valley actually looks like mountains you would see in a desert:

The road traveling through this wide valley then narrowed down and passed through a rugged canyon on its last stretch to Queenstown:

While driving through this scenic valley we were able to see a number of people white water rafting and bungee jumping at various points along the canyone.  Really quite a scenic ride.

Eventually the highway left the canyon and rugged peaks of the The Remarkables came into view meaning we had finally reached our destination, Queenstown:

It was a good thing we had finally reached Queenstown because at this point both my wife and I were at sensory overload due to the incredible scenery we found ourselves surrounded by all throughout our drive over Haast Pass.  Just when you thought you had seen what you thought had to be the most incredible peak, yet another one more spectacular then the last would come into view.  The drive through Te Wahipounamu is a scenic wonderland my wife and I will never forget.

Next Posting: The Tourist Mecca of Queenstown

Prior Posting: New Zealand’s West Coast

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