Next day drive to Queenstown by-passing Frankston – thank goodness – over Arthur's Pt. Managed to drive along Lake Wakatipu to Glenorchy (46 km from Queenstown) with reasonable weather, stopping at several lookouts along the way. Venture on to Paradise, sealed road part of the way, then gravel. Wooded area – beautiful. Flat wetlands. Then major downpour – zero visibility of mountains. Hear distant thunder. No point in continuing to the end of the road just to say we reached Paradise... Drive back as quickly as possible, but nowhere near the 100 km posted in the most bizarre places!
Next morning the sun is shining but the forecast for Wanaka is grim. We hope for the best. Take the Alpine Scenic Road through Cordrona to Wanaka – skiing country. Takes about one hour. Then head up SH-6 along Lakes Hawea and Wanaka, towards the Haast Pass – begins to rain more and more. Then pouring. Can see the lakes, more or less, but not the mountains. Have to abandon our plans and turn around. Would have loved to hike at the Blue Pools. Some consolation (not much) to learn that most of NZ has had unusually heavy rainfall the past couple of days, including Nelson – "the sunniest spot on the South Island"!
No comments:
Post a Comment