After our hike out to see the Rob Roy glacier we headed back through Wanaka and continued on west towards Haast Pass. This route takes you along a narrow strip of land between Lake Wanaka and Lake Hawea and we decided to stop part way along for another quick hike. Leaving the campervan at the side of the lake we took the trail up towards Isthmus Peak.
The track climbed quickly through some managed deer farms before winding up some very steep swtichbacks to look out over Lake Hawea. Despite the strong wind, the visibility was great and we could see all the the way back to Wanaka. We didn’t have time to go all the way to the peak, as we wanted to get to the campground before it got dark, but the views even from this part of the track were fantastic.
We spent the night a little further west on Haast Pass at a very quiet campground. We had our choice of spots and picked one with a perfect view up through the Makarora river valley. We set up camp and spent the evening watching the clouds change in the river valley.
The next morning we literally set off from the door of the campervan into the bush in search of the blue pools.
We had the trail through the forest to ourselves and once again were amazed at all the different plants here.
We were fascinated by the fungus growing on this stump, perhaps it is a reflection of how much damper the forests are here compared to Colorado!
The trail eventually joined the main path to the blue pools and we reached the bridge across the river. Despite the river still being in the shade this early in the morning, the water colour was incredible.
We continued along the pathway to a smaller bridge crossing a side stream which had equally clear, blue water. Despite being high above the water on the bridge we could clearly see the bottom and were even able to spot a trout swimming around!
After admiring the water for a while we headed back to the campervan ready to start our drive back towards Christchurch.