Heading Further South
After our "cool" hike around Franz Josef Glacier, it was time to say farewell to this cute alpine town and make our way further south to the adventure capital of New Zealand, perhaps even the world - Queenstown. First though, there was a 350km stretch of Highway 6 to navigate and I have to say, this was another amazing road trip so ladies and gentlemen, fasten your seat belts!
Cruising Down Highway 6
You'll see me reference Highway 6 quite a bit (if you haven't noticed already) as this highway stretches down the whole south island of New Zealand, mainly on the west part. But my goodness what a highway it is, taking you through various mountain ranges and that beautiful coastline we saw on the way to Franz Josef! Now, as we head further south, we are exposed to even more dramatic scenery and I'd recommend you stopping at some of these checkpoints to break up the journey and take it all in!
Knight's Point Lookout
The first stop is a place called "Knight's Point Lookout", where the highway takes us back to the coastline once more. However, the weather took a turn for the worse today and the blue skies were definitely absent compared to previous days! However, it added to the magic and the atmosphere of the drive. It will take you just over an hour and a half to get here and, importantly, there are toilets on site, you'll need them!
Knight's Point itself is the meeting point between two construction teams that were tasked with joining the east coast to the west coast via Haast Pass around the 1950s. Funnily enough, it was named after one of the surveyor's dogs called Knight [Source]! The lookout area gives a great view of Arnott Point and if you're lucky, you may spot some fur or elephant seals.
Blue Pools
Another hour and a bit drive takes you back inland and into Mount Aspiring National Park where you'll see a sign post for "Blue Pools" and a lay by for parking - I'd recommend you park there! Don't worry if you're not fit, it's suitable for all fitness levels, is only 1.5km one way and it is one of the Department of Conservation's "best short walks" according to their website. I can't argue with that personally and I think you'd probably struggle to argue against it as well looking through these pictures below!
Once you've parked up, as you can see from the sign, it's a 30 minute forest walk with a boardwalk in some sections, which leads you to some of the bluest pools you're likely to see! First though, you need to cross a pretty daunting suspension bridge which only allows a maximum of 10 people on at a time! It's a little wobbly but it's part of the fun! The second swing bridge isn't quite as "swingy" and is the viewing platform for the marvellous clear waters below.
After the first suspension bridge, the path continues for another few hundred metres and that's where things really start getting even more blue as you get to the Blue Pools! The second suspension bridge gives you a view full of beautiful colours and if you wanted to continue along the path, you can get closer to the action and go "poolside".
The Neck
Once we pulled ourselves away from the amazing Blue Pools, it was time to get back on the road and continue our road trip south towards a part of Highway 6 called "The Neck". It's about 30 minutes south of the Blue Pools and is a narrow stretch of road which separates Lake Wanaka and Lake Hawea. At this point, we have left Mount Aspiring National Park and are out in the open, surrounded by beautiful lakes and mountains.
Once we got back on the road and continued towards Wanaka, words cannot describe the views of the lakes and you'll just be blown away! Make sure you keep your eyes on the road if you're driving though haha!
Wanaka
Another 30 minutes or so along Highway 6 from the Neck is the alpine resort aka highly touristic town of Wanaka, whether it's Summer or Winter, you'll have something to do here. As you might expect from the name, it sits right next to Lake Wanaka with opportunities for fishing, walking along the lake or, for the serious hikers, getting to Roy's Peak. Unfortunately, I didn't have time to do that on this trip but if you get a chance and you're in the area, it's been highly rated as one of the greatest New Zealand walks. There's also a great opportunity for skiing in the winter months but more information about all the activities can be found on the Wanaka Tourism website.
Of course, if you're going to Lake Wanaka, you have to take a picture of "That Wanaka Tree". The what? Yes, it's known as "That Wanaka Tree" and is one of New Zealand's most famous trees because it defies the odds and actually grows out of the lake itself! It's between 60-70 years old and stands tall in the middle, making it a favourite place for ducks to chill out at. Don't get too close to it though, one might start giving you attitude like one did to me! Of course, it's one of those "instragram moments" (yuck) but it's worth taking a few minutes to have a look, just for the shear "how does that even work?" aspect of it!
There are plenty of places to eat along the waterfront but it was one chocolatier that stood out to me called Patagonia Chocolates. Delicious, rich and full of flavour, I tucked in to a hot chocolate as it was a pretty bleak day which was well worth the $5.50 NZD. They do breakfasts as well but after a long day, you need a little bit of energy in you to see you through!
Crown Range Lookout
Our final stop on this amazing road trip was the Crown Range Lookout, which is another hour drive from Wanaka but if you want a great drive, don't go back on to Highway 6 here, rather, head down Cardrona Valley Road - you can thank me later! You could say the views on the way down were the crowning glory ... har har har... We stopped off at the view point at the top but a little bit further down the road from here is arguably a better viewpoint on the left but we couldn't stop there because we didn't see it until late and there was no way to turn back.
After you get back on to Highway 6, it's another 20 minutes or so to Queenstown, which we'll be exploring more of in the next blog!
I hope you have enjoyed this road trip today folks, we've seen a lot! Now go and get some rest!
Nicky
View this post on TravelFeed for the best experience.
Hello!
This post has been manually curated, resteemed
and gifted with some virtually delicious cake
from the @helpiecake curation team!
Keep up the great work!Much love to you from all of us at @helpie!
♥♥♥
Manually curated by @paintingangels.
Community Witness.
For more information about our project,
please visit this month’s UPDATE post.
@helpie is a
Oh hey there @helpiecake! Thank you so much for the yummy looking chocolate goodness! Cake and travel stories, great combination @paintingangels 😀
Posted using Partiko Android
Congratulations, Your Post Has Been Added To The Steemit Worldmap!
Author link: http://steemitworldmap.com?author=nickyhaveyPost link: http://steemitworldmap.com?post=havey-s-australia-and-new-zealand-adventure-part-21-franz-josef-to-queenstown-road-trip
Want to have your post on the map too?
oh your photos really make me want to go, those pools are amazing. Some of the landscape reminds me of Ireland too. Thanks for sharing this with us Nicky xx
They were an unexpected surprise those pools and glad the weather at least brightened up a little bit as it was looking bleak at the first stop! I would love to go back and have longer out there in NZ, hopefully one day, steem prices will rise up from the ashes!
Thanks for checking it out @trucklife-family 🙂
and has received an upvote and a delayed resteem to hopefully generate some ❤ extra love ❤ for your post!This post was curated by @theluvbug
In Proud Collaboration with The Power House Creatives
and their founder @jaynie
Ah wow thanks a lot @theluvbug 😊 feeling the luv!
Posted using Partiko Android
That clear blue water looks AMAZING! Looks shallow but I'd still jump in !
Haha yea man it really was incredible! I would have loved to jump in but it was freezing there on the day. I think if we had enough time and didn't have to hop back on the happy bus some of us would have taken the plunge 😁
Posted using Partiko Android
upvote and a resteem. Your work really stands out! Your article now has a chance to get featured under the appropriate daily topic on our TravelFeed blog.
Thank you for being part of the TravelFeed community!Congratulations! Your high-quality travel content was selected by @travelfeed curator @for91days and earned you a reward, in form of an
Thanks for posting through TravelFeed.io! You have received a larger upvote from us. We hope to see you soon on TravelFeed.io!
Posting through TravelFeed.io also makes your post eligible to participate in the travel writing contest by @invisusmundi where you can earn up to 100 STEEM! Read the contest announcement for more information on how to participate.
We are continuously working on improving TravelFeed, recently we relaunched our map and reinvented the profile introducing collectible badges and a scratch-off-map of your visited countries and posts.
Learn more about TravelFeed by clicking on the banner above and join our community on Discord.
Ah wow thank you so much @travelfeed and @for91days! I had a little chat with @invisusmundi and this will be entered in to his 2nd contest for sure! I entered another previous Road trip blog for this first one!
I'll definitely be using travelfeed site for future travel blogs now 🙂
Posted using Partiko Android
Or else .. hahah :) Thank you so much for being such an incredible member of TravelFeed!
Hahaha! Thanks for having me there, I'm inspired whenever I drop in to the Discord 🙂
Gorgeous views! Are you able to swim in the blue pools or the lake if you wanted to? Or are those restricted in any way?
I believe you can even jump in from the suspension bridge if you wanted but it is ICE cold! Best to do it in the summer to cool off I think 😁
Posted using Partiko Android
Of course! For a moment there I forgot that down under you're still at the tail end of winter!
Haha well I live in the UK and am back here now but I was in Australia and New Zealand for 3 months in their Autumn time. It was still pretty decent weather and I definitely lucked out for the time of year I was there!
Posted using Partiko Android
This post was shared in the Curation Collective Discord community
community witness. Please consider using one of your witness votes on us here for curators, and upvoted and resteemed by the @c-squared community account after manual review.@c-squared runs a
Ah wow thanks a lot @c-squared for the support here! Really glad you enjoyed the journey!
Posted using Partiko Android
Wow. Thank you for the awesome photos and travelling journey. It is like I am travelling with you, hehe. =)
Hey @iamjadeline thank you for checking out the journey and glad you enjoyed this adventure! If you need a travel buddy, just give me a shout 😁
Posted using Partiko Android
Wow, @nickyhavey! Those BLUE pools are not kidding ! They are really, really BLUE! :O Almost jarring in its cyan-blue-ness, in fact :O :O :O
I love those two shots of the Crown Range lookouts at the end, as well <3 Beautiful !!!!
Hey @veryspider, yea I know right! SO blue, they definitely got the name right for this place hey! Haha!
Yes I wasn't expecting that view point of the Crown Ranges either but was pleasantly surprised when we got there 🙂
Thanks for stopping by
Still enjoying every inch of the road you took on this epic journey, what a pity on tours you never have enough time to explore everything or spend extra time in certain areas.
The blue pools, what a staggeringly beautiful spot to stop for a days outing. Soft green ferns and gentle shades of light driving along, excellent photographic recollection @nickyhavey
Hey @joanstewart, thanks a lot for checking it out and you're right about that, these adventure tours really only give you a snapshot as they want you to come back and visit the country later on. Although I could spend my life on New Zealand and still not explore everywhere I don't think! So much to enjoy.
They really were an awesome shade of blue, no photoshop or filter required for nature's beauty hey 🙂
Posted using Partiko Android
All of your photos, as always, are AMAZEBALLS! However, I have to say the ones of the blue pools are my favorite, as well as that (Insta...what? 😉😂) second shot of "That Wanaka Tree" - love how you framed that one. Thanks again for sharing the sights and info from your incredible trip, so we can be armchair (or in my case, office chair...LOL) tourists. 😊
If I hadn't know this was in New Zealand, I would easily have mistaken it for Scotland - except for the blue pools.That would have kept me scratching my head. Scotland does have some incredibly blue water off the west coast in places though! And here is Forida we also have a tree that grows out of the water - the bald cyprus tree! Great post, and thanks for the trip! I loved all thos mysterious misty shots!
oh wow! this is such a beautiful area! that Blue Pool looks lke something out of Peter Pan!
Thanks for sharing
Thanks a lot for checking it out @princessmewmew! Yea it was a beautiful spot for sure with the Blue Pools... well, the whole road trip in New Zealand was incredible, I may have to fly back over there in a green costume :)
Beautiful landscapes! I once was a whitewater rafting guide in Colorado, and the company I worked for offered conrtracts to work in New Zealand after three years. I unfortunately took another job and never finished my three years, so couldn't go. It looks like Colorado without human-eating predators and more water.
Haha thanks Justin! And that's cool to hear about your white water rafting guide days! My first white water experience was in the Salmon River in USA (can't remember the state though as it was a long time ago) - but I did a Grade 5 rapid in New Zealand which I wrote about a couple of blogs ago and it was one of the scariest things I've done! I survived without flying out of course, others were not so fortunate :)
Hey there Nicky. Gorgeous landscapes there and I am surprised with the blue pools. Indeed they are blue, more like torquise but still blue lol. You got some great shots there my friend especially with the Wanaka tree.
Hey hey my man @watersnake101! Thanks a lot for checking this out man! Yes they are very blue/turquoise but very beautiful! I got lucky with the weather and atmosphere around that Wanaka tree with the weather and the clouds behind! Thanks to little Daffy the Duck for adding a bit of drama too!
Hope you're all good mate!
The Creative Crypto is all about art on the blockchain and learning from creatives like you. Looking forward to crossing paths again soon. Steem on!Hello @nickyhavey, thank you for sharing this creative work! We just stopped by to say that you've been upvoted by the @creativecrypto magazine.
Hey thanks a lot @creativecrypto for the support here! Hopefully we will cross paths again soon! Take it easy!
Daily Travel Digest #610.
Hiya, @choogirl here, just swinging by to let you know that this post made into our Top 3 in Your post has been manually curated by the @steemitworldmap team. If you like what we're doing, please drop by to check out all the rest of today's great posts and consider upvoting and supporting us.100 Snax tokens will be in your wallet by next Monday courtesy of @crowdmind.
Learn More
Hey @choogirl and @steemitworldmap! Thanks so much for the awesome support here and for featuring in your latest digest! Wow!
That a really long road trip but I wouldn't mind with all those pretty sceneries. The water is soo blue under that suspension bridge, must be an untouched place. And cool Wanaka tree, even ducks like taking a selfie with it 😊
Honestly the scenery makes it feel like no effort at all as I found out when I did a long road trip myself which you'll find out about in a later blog!
The blue pools were stunning and there's a load of blue water in many parts of New Zealand which we'll be exploring later on too!
That Wanaka tree is a pretty surreal one isn't it! Ducks have a hidden talent of taking selfies too haha!
Thank you for your contribution to the crowd. We are the Steem community project dedicated to empowering The Wisdom of Crowds. You can find more about us on our official website or whitepaper and you can support us by voting for our witness and joining our curation trail on Steemauto . We are also inviting you to join Crowdmind Discord server. Don't forget to use the #crowdmind hashtag and happy crowdsourcing!