When we awoke this morning, the sunny weather had returned! It was rather windy, but still a nice bright day.
After breakfast, we checked out of our hotel in Queenstown and packed the truck for a leisurely drive to Wanaka. It’s not very far, and we don’t have any specific activities planned for today.
We decided to take a small detour to Arrowtown, just outside of Queenstown, to see some fall colours. There are no trees native to New Zealand that drop their leaves in the fall, but there are a few places where you see trees such as maples and oaks that were introduced from other places around the world. Arrowtown is one of those places.
While the fall colours simply do not compare to what you would see in Ontario, Arrowtown is a very pretty town in a lovely setting.
After looking around Arrowtown for a while, we decided to head to Wanaka via the Crown Range Road. The Crown Range Road, which has now been paved and outfitted with guard rails in places, has the distinction of being the highest public highway in New Zealand. We heard that you often see airplanes flying below you while driving along the road.
Here is the view out the passenger window as we begin the drive up.
Looking back at the road zig-zagging up the hill, I think we’re still only about a third of the way up.
The views are stunning, but…
…There’s still a lot more hill above us!
As we drive higher, the vegetation thins to mainly tussock grasses.
Just a little bit higher, and we can start the drive down the other side.
Driving down the other side, the road winds down through a little river valley.
This road is dangerous enough without having to worry about sheep around every bend!
Once down the mountain, it was a nice drive through Cardrona and into Wanaka.
We arrived in Wanaka in the late afternoon. Below is the lovely view of Lake Wanaka from our motel room.
Wanaka is a pretty little town of about 5,000 people, and about 25,000 during the busy tourist season.
