Heading Queenstown

Over the Haast Pass to Queenstown

The worry that we might be washed away by the torrential rain overnight doesn’t seem so far-fetched once we wake up. The road we took here yesterday is actually closed just past Fox Glacier heading north because the water there caused some of the slopes to slide, burying the road.

Once again you can see how much good travel planning is worth: just one day later we wouldn’t have gotten that far. And since this is the only road that takes you from north to south, we would have had to drive the entire coast back to Greymouth to get to Queenstown.

Well, at least the rain has stopped, although the weather still has room for improvement. We don’t let it spoil our fun, but rather enjoy the nature, which is completely unfamiliar to us: huge ferns, as tall as the trees in Germany, grow on the left and right of the road in competition with other plants that we have never seen before have seen. Wonderful!

Our next encounter isn’t all that wonderful. We take a break on a wonderful stretch of coast to stretch our legs and admire the wild waves and the no less wild coast. After we stay within sight of the cars, we trustingly leave the doors open.

Big mistake! After just a short time we notice itchy spots on the skin. If you take a closer look, you’ll see that there are countless tiny mosquitoes buzzing around us. Let’s get out of here! But the critters have already made themselves comfortable in our cars through the open doors. So for the next few kilometers we are more concerned with fending off the tormentors than enjoying the landscape.

At the beginning of the climb to Haast Pass we take a breakfast break in the “Frontier Café and Bar”. It was really just supposed to be a stop for a coffee and maybe a sandwich. But then we see that fresh, homemade seafood chowder is available from 11 a.m. We can’t resist this temptation and are rewarded with an absolutely excellent soup for relatively little money.

This wonderfully creamy soup with fresh seafood is increasingly becoming Hans and I’s staple diet. A bowl with this delicious content can easily replace an entire meal!

Strengthened like this, we first chug along the Haast River upstream and then up the pass. The weather isn’t even that bad, the scent of the beautiful landscape is incredibly spicy and the view is always breathtaking.

As soon as we have turned a few meters lower on the other side of the pass, the view of Lake Wanaka opens up. How are you supposed to endure this accumulation of fabulous panoramas? Is there an increase from wonderful? As the saying goes: I’m at a loss for words!

In Wanaka we turn right from SH6 to take the Crown Range Road as a welcome shortcut to Queenstown. Firstly, this is a wonderfully scenic road and secondly, there is a special feature at the turnoff to the ski area: the Bra-Fence near Cardrona.

This is a fence on which countless brassieres are hung. There’s a really nice story about this that you can find on Wikipedia under “Cardrona Bra Fence< /a>“ can be read. In fact, this attraction had to be moved off the road because accidents caused by gawking drivers were becoming extremely common. Today, both the people from the distillery and the horse farm right next door are making sure that the ugliest and oldest examples are taken down and replaced with newer ones.

When we arrive in Queenstown, we notice that the collection of Hilton hotels is located in a really beautiful location on the lake, but there is almost nothing to be seen of Queenstown itself because, firstly, it is on the other side of the lake and secondly, it is quite far away is.

So in the late afternoon we drive to Queenstown and experience a city predominantly populated by incredibly sporty, younger people. By younger people I actually just mean: a little younger than us, haha! In fact, in this now awful weather, guys are walking around in shorts and T-shirts, some even barefoot, and just looking at some of the girls gives us goosebumps.

But what does that matter to us? Exactly! That’s why we retreat to a supposedly hip restaurant, the “Pier“. And then it becomes obvious once again what an oversupply of Asian tourists can do to a tastefully furnished restaurant. The waiter behaves so arrogantly and snobbishly that we feel quite out of place. You feel like you’re at a box innkeeper with four times the prices! Box innkeeper is clear, isn’t it? This is the fast food chain where you get the food in small boxes.

The rain has let up a bit again, we are going back to the DoubleTree by Hilton in Queenstown and are looking forward to the next one Day. Good night!

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