From the mountains to the desert
Door: Willem & Michelle
Blijf op de hoogte en volg Willem & Michelle
20 Januari 2014 | Nieuw Zeeland, Bannockburn
When Michelle wakes up the sun hasn’t risen yet but she sees... blue….no cloud in the sky! Unbelievable, we are “mazzelkonten”, “lucky bastards”, “des veinards”…
The actual Fox Glacier is a few kilometers away from the village so we decide to go there before we head for Queenstown.
There are two roads which lead to the glacier; one says “view”, the other “acces to” or something like that. We chose for “view” as we have no idea how long we will have to walk but that’s a bad idea because when we just start on this road there is a sign “not accessible for campervans”.
So we have to come back and after about 7 km there is a parking site where we are not alone…
In the distance we see a piece of the glacier. The weather is wonderful, it doesn’t seem to be too steep even for a bad knee (to come back) so we put our walking shoes on and start the ascent.
Willem(‘s knee) is doing very well but the last few hundred meters are really to steep, such a pity because the glacier is hidden behind the last turn. Michelle continues alone for the last part. At least she can take the pictures. Willem finds a huge rock nicely in the sun and waits there for Michelle.
The site of the glacier is overwhelming. We did see it from the sky but only now you can see the true size of this massive ice lump. Especially by seeing a group of people finding their way on the ice behind a guide, very far away….
Willem has been very patient and still waits for Michelle on the rock. She just returns at the right moment, the sun is fading away and it’s getting cold. We head back crossing a few small streams and we are very happy having been able to see the glacier from this side also!
Our aim today is Queenstown with a stop near Cromwell, a small town about half an hour away from Queenstown. Family of friends are living there and we will meet them at their house.
The exact place turns out to be Bannockburn on the border of the Kawarau River.
The trip via the Haast Pass is magnificent. The sea is unbelievable, deep blue/green, the rainforest crashes right into the sea.
We are warned at the petrol station that the road further south, one hour from Haast, is closed from 6 pm until 7am. There has been a huge “slip” (apparently the kiwi-word for a landslide) after the last rains and nobody is allowed to pass there without surveillance.
Most of the landscape, after we leave the coast, is rainforest with the huge deep blue/green Haast river left from us.
And then, just when it’s become maybe a bit much of rainforest… there are the lakes, first Lake Wanaku, then Lake Hawea, crystal clear deep blue lakes with untouched mountains that fall into the lakes. No roads, no people, not even sheep or cattle, no nothing…. Just plain magnificent nature…
The Verboekets live in a wonderful cottage, surrounded by a beautiful garden and vinyard on a hill looking down on the Kawarau river (if we remember well….).
Bannockburn is situated in Central Otago, called the desert. It looks a bit like the Provence with vinyards, fruit trees, lavender, (wild!) thyme (introduced in the late 1800’s by a Frenchman) and a comparable climate. Like we have already been told over over it’s a very cold summer, in fact there is no summer yet but we are very pleased with the temperature as it is, nice warm.
We are welcomed by Arna and John as if we were old friends. Very friendly people and it’s wonderful having a drink on their terrace with a magnificent view. Arna has chosen the best meal she could….Indonesian! And the wine is from their own vineyard!
They convince us to stay and we sleep in our comfortable own “house” on their parking with the facilities of the Verboeket’s house, great.
Tomorrow we will see what kind of a mad city Queenstown is….
The actual Fox Glacier is a few kilometers away from the village so we decide to go there before we head for Queenstown.
There are two roads which lead to the glacier; one says “view”, the other “acces to” or something like that. We chose for “view” as we have no idea how long we will have to walk but that’s a bad idea because when we just start on this road there is a sign “not accessible for campervans”.
So we have to come back and after about 7 km there is a parking site where we are not alone…
In the distance we see a piece of the glacier. The weather is wonderful, it doesn’t seem to be too steep even for a bad knee (to come back) so we put our walking shoes on and start the ascent.
Willem(‘s knee) is doing very well but the last few hundred meters are really to steep, such a pity because the glacier is hidden behind the last turn. Michelle continues alone for the last part. At least she can take the pictures. Willem finds a huge rock nicely in the sun and waits there for Michelle.
The site of the glacier is overwhelming. We did see it from the sky but only now you can see the true size of this massive ice lump. Especially by seeing a group of people finding their way on the ice behind a guide, very far away….
Willem has been very patient and still waits for Michelle on the rock. She just returns at the right moment, the sun is fading away and it’s getting cold. We head back crossing a few small streams and we are very happy having been able to see the glacier from this side also!
Our aim today is Queenstown with a stop near Cromwell, a small town about half an hour away from Queenstown. Family of friends are living there and we will meet them at their house.
The exact place turns out to be Bannockburn on the border of the Kawarau River.
The trip via the Haast Pass is magnificent. The sea is unbelievable, deep blue/green, the rainforest crashes right into the sea.
We are warned at the petrol station that the road further south, one hour from Haast, is closed from 6 pm until 7am. There has been a huge “slip” (apparently the kiwi-word for a landslide) after the last rains and nobody is allowed to pass there without surveillance.
Most of the landscape, after we leave the coast, is rainforest with the huge deep blue/green Haast river left from us.
And then, just when it’s become maybe a bit much of rainforest… there are the lakes, first Lake Wanaku, then Lake Hawea, crystal clear deep blue lakes with untouched mountains that fall into the lakes. No roads, no people, not even sheep or cattle, no nothing…. Just plain magnificent nature…
The Verboekets live in a wonderful cottage, surrounded by a beautiful garden and vinyard on a hill looking down on the Kawarau river (if we remember well….).
Bannockburn is situated in Central Otago, called the desert. It looks a bit like the Provence with vinyards, fruit trees, lavender, (wild!) thyme (introduced in the late 1800’s by a Frenchman) and a comparable climate. Like we have already been told over over it’s a very cold summer, in fact there is no summer yet but we are very pleased with the temperature as it is, nice warm.
We are welcomed by Arna and John as if we were old friends. Very friendly people and it’s wonderful having a drink on their terrace with a magnificent view. Arna has chosen the best meal she could….Indonesian! And the wine is from their own vineyard!
They convince us to stay and we sleep in our comfortable own “house” on their parking with the facilities of the Verboeket’s house, great.
Tomorrow we will see what kind of a mad city Queenstown is….
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Je kunt nu ook Smileys gebruiken. Via de toolbar, toetsenbord of door eerst : te typen en dan een woord bijvoorbeeld :smiley
