BLOG POST 31
Another day started and we set going for a long day of travelling to Queenstown which was 350 km away from Franz Josef.
The drive was full of windy roads that meandered alongside mountains and crossed numerous rivers, took us out of Glacier country, dancing through lush green forests and to the coast at Haast before taking us into the mountains and over one of the most dangerous and spectacular passes, the Haast Pass, on the South Island.
We sped merrily along our way and very soon saw a board marked Paringa Salmon Farm Cafe at a short drive off the road and after a 50m walk we saw five salmon ponds where the salmon farming takes place and at a higher ground was located the cafe.
Upon entering the café, we pulled our lunches out of the display case as we did in most places in New Zealand. We proceeded to check out at the counter and pay for our meal. Plenty of choices were there mainly using salmon as the main menu, we chose salmon chowder and salmon fritter
The cafe was roomy though crowded with busloads of visitors including ours .Waiting time however was easily filled in by browsing the items for sale, or leaning over the rail to watch the huge salmon lazily circling in their ponds,
in NZ slang salmon were spelled semen which was puzzling for us in the beginning ,my hubby who is a trained sexologist was astonished to hear about semen farms, LOL !
The inquisitive ducks with their harems adoringly waddling around them were trying in vain to steal some food! We could hand feed the fish and get some good photos but one had to take care to observe the signage which advises which ponds NOT to feed
As we observed the salmon ponds, we saw a guy tending to the fish. He was transferring the fish from one tank to another. It was quite interesting to see the size of these fish
The views of the Paringa River, the Waituna Creek and the serene surrounding countryside with sounds of flowing water were well worth the money for they were free!
As we were looking at the salmon tanks we suddenly heard a loud ear piercing scream ,a female tourist who was very enthusiastically taking pictures of the salmon suddenly found to her horror that her cell phone had fallen into the water which was flowing into the Waituna creek .
Her husband frantically rushed outside and tried to fish out the cell phone from the creek but in vain ,we could see the frustration on the faces of the couple ,apart from the loss of the cell they must have lost a precious treasure of memories stored in the snaps they had taken
We were now on our way to Haast Pass named after Julius von Haast, a 19th-century explorer and a geologist for Provincial government of Canterbury.
It is one of the three passes where a road crosses over the Southern Alps, the other two being Lewis Pass and Arthur’s Pass. The road through Haast Pass (State Highway 6) was converted from a previously rough track to a formed road in 1966.
The Haast Pass rises to a height of 562 metres above sea level at the saddle between the valleys of the Haast and Makarora Rivers. As such, it is the lowest of the passes traversing the Southern Alps.
The Haast Pass road is devoid of any settlements between Haast and Makarora. The road passes bravely through predominantly unmodified beech forest and tenaciously follows the river for kilometres.
We found that the landscape opened up at Makarora to more rolling hills, more grazing and agricultural land and Makarora River which feeds straight into the northern end of Lake Wanaka.
The Lake Wanaka is at an altitude of 300 metres and covers an area of 192 km. It is huge and 42 km long and kept us entranced as the road hugs the shoreline and it seemed never ending, it is New Zealand’s fourth largest lake, and estimated to be more than 300m deep.
We could see lots of safe spots to stop along the lake for photos and people get out and admire the spectacular views,sadly we could not do this as we were on a conducted tour and the stops were pre fixed
The settlement of Haast was once a construction camp for the Ministry of Works for road and bridge buildings. It's a town with a touch of the wild west with helicopters to fly deer hunters into the rugged ranges and local pubs displaying stuffed animal trophies proudly
Just north of Haast is Lake Moeraki, a peaceful forest lake with good fishing ,we were told that a 40 minute walk took one to the penguin colony at Monro Beach.
The lakes were lovely and deep with variety of blue colours and I was wistfully thinking how I wish I could carry a few lakes back home, alas! I knew it was not feasible
About half way along Lake Wanaka the road passed over a small ridge and then we were now driving along Lake Hawea.
Lake Hāwea is located alongside Lake Wanaka at an altitude of 348 metres. It covers an area of some 141 km and is at its deepest, 392 metres deep and 35km long.
Now we had to take an optional tour of the Haast Safari ride. We drove approximately 5 miles down Jackson Bay road to meet our boat. The Safari Boat was unique with huge side and roof windows for clear vision and seated about 20 people.
First thing to note was the sand flies ,we knew the repercussions as doctors if we got bitten by them, so protected ourselves well!
We had a great guide who was humorous and generous in sharing some of his stories as well as being informative.
He provided all of us life jackets and we boarded the boat which was a covered one and ensured that we stayed dry and received a safety brief. Commentary began as we started our cruise up the mighty River
The format of the tour was well explained and the journey up the river took about an hour with several photo opportunity stops.
After a very varied scenic journey with snow peaked mountains in the backdrop, attractive flora and fauna thriving on the riverbanks, learning of the rain forest’s varied animal and bird life we went to the top of the river
We had the option to disembark and view the river and take a walk into the rain forest to view different ancient forest trees, touch ferns and listen to the birds.
Total time at this stop is about 25 minutes to take in the atmosphere. The forest walk was completely optional.
Channels were gouged out, water was shallow and milky from the recent rains ,our guide told us that the journey was very challenging as the river would change its course very frequently and kept them in suspense always
Although there were rapids closer to its source, the Haast was wide and gravelly and even a little braided where we were. One section had recently shifted its course to the opposite side of the valley and washed an unsuspecting bank away so 1000-year-old rain forest growth now sloughed into the river. This is not something our guide attributed to climate change, just nature doing its thing.
Once on the boat, the tour took a 20 minute non-stop faster run back down the river. Then the boat traveled up a side tributary which had completely different scenery, as it was a separate river, with much bird and fish life.
Bird spotting such as the white heron and fantails happen here, along with fish spotting for flounder, whitebait and trout, though we could see only few birds.
We were then offered the option of Hamilton turns or dough nuts, which are the high speed 360 jet boat turns, we were shown one as a sample to see if we were game for some adventure ,it was thrilling ,we went round and round throwing up huge walls of water.
All of us though over 50 yrs stayed on the boat and 2 turns were done ,after each spin, the guide asked if we wanted to do it faster, and of course we all did, so faster and faster we went screaming and yelling in gay abandon and then as all good things have to end ,our journey was over and the boat parked for dis embankment.
It was indeed a wonderful journey along the wide but shallow Haast River,the Journey was 30 km . There were some pulse-raising moments as we skirted the gravel bars and occasionally rapped against the shallow bottom .
We all felt proud to see the Haast River area, a part of a UNESCO World Heritage Site.
The mountain showed us the way at the other end at the north of Lake Wanaka where we drove along the lake, switching to Lake Hawea half way along and then into the Wanaka township
Our bus took the longer route through the fertile plains of Otago which was full of vineyards, orchids and beautiful views of the surrounding mountains. The drive followed Lake Dunstan’s full length and then cut back through the Gibston Valley to Queenstown
We were driving along Highway 6 near Cromwell, South Island. This was a special part of the country because there was a gold rush here in the late 1800's that brought prospectors and others to the area.
They settled here, mined for the precious metal, and established beautiful Victorian era towns. There were also farmers who came and planted and tended fruit orchards, especially stone fruit trees.
Just before arriving in Queensland we started seeing many fruit orchards some heavily laden with cherries.
We stopped at Mrs Jones fruit shop .
Jones Family Fruit Stall started humbly in 1979 when Mrs Jones opened a small fruit stall in a Skyline garage beside State Highway 6.
40 years later, after 3 major expansions, Jones Family Fruit Stall has developed into a bustling enterprise which attracts people from around the globe.
As soon as the bus stopped we got down and found that outside a building most of the merchandise was on tables with beautiful displays of fresh fruit and vegetables
Inside were more fresh produce as well as preserved food products, such as jars of jams and bags of nuts ,lots of fruits on stands , grapes, plums, nectarines, apples, mandarins, kiwis, peaches and plums and of course the dried fruits and nuts.
We tried the dried sour cherry which had a soft natural and excellent taste, the peaches were crunchy and yummy. All fruits displayed there were mostly self produced, taken from the local or imported only when needed
I purchased dried ginger and orange which is otherwise hard to find , Not only fresh fruit but also the other products made from preservative fruits which we bought to take home as souvenirs .
Different fruits as well as other items such as chocolates, biscuits and souvenirs were very attractively displayed and were a feast to our eyes
Samples of fruits were given out to taste. I tried the Golden Kiwi and really enjoyed the flavor.
They also had a wine store with samples available along with their famous Pinot Noir Port. Though there was massive rush, people working there were friendly and pleasant.
One of most interesting products that Mrs Jones carried was a variety of different honeys, from inexpensive to the rarest and most treasured, the Manuka honey.
Jones family also produced a very large number of cherries and were one of the biggest cherry exporter in the world..
We found most of the tourists buying fruit, honey and port!!
Everything was so colorful and every part of the shop was a photo opportunity as well. We bought fruits which we never had seen before like kiwano and feijoa , and a sampling bag of assorted stone fruits for $3. The kiwifruits were very sweet, Cromwell is supposed to be the stone fruit capital of the south Island
The jewel in the crown ,quietly tucked away at the back of the store was an ice cream stand and one could pick any frozen fruit we wanted to mix up in our ice cream or yogurt ,it cost 5 dollars and was worth every rupee.
it was an absolutely superb treat to sit and eat the delicious ice cream in the lovely sunshine in the beautiful garden with all kinds of flowers, statues and nice benches from which to enjoy our surroundings
.
Another day started and we set going for a long day of travelling to Queenstown which was 350 km away from Franz Josef.
The drive was full of windy roads that meandered alongside mountains and crossed numerous rivers, took us out of Glacier country, dancing through lush green forests and to the coast at Haast before taking us into the mountains and over one of the most dangerous and spectacular passes, the Haast Pass, on the South Island.
The cafe was roomy though crowded with busloads of visitors including ours .Waiting time however was easily filled in by browsing the items for sale, or leaning over the rail to watch the huge salmon lazily circling in their ponds,
The inquisitive ducks with their harems adoringly waddling around them were trying in vain to steal some food! We could hand feed the fish and get some good photos but one had to take care to observe the signage which advises which ponds NOT to feed
The views of the Paringa River, the Waituna Creek and the serene surrounding countryside with sounds of flowing water were well worth the money for they were free!
Her husband frantically rushed outside and tried to fish out the cell phone from the creek but in vain ,we could see the frustration on the faces of the couple ,apart from the loss of the cell they must have lost a precious treasure of memories stored in the snaps they had taken
We were now on our way to Haast Pass named after Julius von Haast, a 19th-century explorer and a geologist for Provincial government of Canterbury.
It is one of the three passes where a road crosses over the Southern Alps, the other two being Lewis Pass and Arthur’s Pass. The road through Haast Pass (State Highway 6) was converted from a previously rough track to a formed road in 1966.
The Haast Pass road is devoid of any settlements between Haast and Makarora. The road passes bravely through predominantly unmodified beech forest and tenaciously follows the river for kilometres.
We found that the landscape opened up at Makarora to more rolling hills, more grazing and agricultural land and Makarora River which feeds straight into the northern end of Lake Wanaka.
The Lake Wanaka is at an altitude of 300 metres and covers an area of 192 km. It is huge and 42 km long and kept us entranced as the road hugs the shoreline and it seemed never ending, it is New Zealand’s fourth largest lake, and estimated to be more than 300m deep.
The settlement of Haast was once a construction camp for the Ministry of Works for road and bridge buildings. It's a town with a touch of the wild west with helicopters to fly deer hunters into the rugged ranges and local pubs displaying stuffed animal trophies proudly
Just north of Haast is Lake Moeraki, a peaceful forest lake with good fishing ,we were told that a 40 minute walk took one to the penguin colony at Monro Beach.
The lakes were lovely and deep with variety of blue colours and I was wistfully thinking how I wish I could carry a few lakes back home, alas! I knew it was not feasible
About half way along Lake Wanaka the road passed over a small ridge and then we were now driving along Lake Hawea.
Lake Hāwea is located alongside Lake Wanaka at an altitude of 348 metres. It covers an area of some 141 km and is at its deepest, 392 metres deep and 35km long.
We had a great guide who was humorous and generous in sharing some of his stories as well as being informative.
He provided all of us life jackets and we boarded the boat which was a covered one and ensured that we stayed dry and received a safety brief. Commentary began as we started our cruise up the mighty River
After a very varied scenic journey with snow peaked mountains in the backdrop, attractive flora and fauna thriving on the riverbanks, learning of the rain forest’s varied animal and bird life we went to the top of the river
Total time at this stop is about 25 minutes to take in the atmosphere. The forest walk was completely optional.
Channels were gouged out, water was shallow and milky from the recent rains ,our guide told us that the journey was very challenging as the river would change its course very frequently and kept them in suspense always
We were then offered the option of Hamilton turns or dough nuts, which are the high speed 360 jet boat turns, we were shown one as a sample to see if we were game for some adventure ,it was thrilling ,we went round and round throwing up huge walls of water.
We all felt proud to see the Haast River area, a part of a UNESCO World Heritage Site.
Our bus took the longer route through the fertile plains of Otago which was full of vineyards, orchids and beautiful views of the surrounding mountains. The drive followed Lake Dunstan’s full length and then cut back through the Gibston Valley to Queenstown
They settled here, mined for the precious metal, and established beautiful Victorian era towns. There were also farmers who came and planted and tended fruit orchards, especially stone fruit trees.
Just before arriving in Queensland we started seeing many fruit orchards some heavily laden with cherries.
As soon as the bus stopped we got down and found that outside a building most of the merchandise was on tables with beautiful displays of fresh fruit and vegetables
I purchased dried ginger and orange which is otherwise hard to find , Not only fresh fruit but also the other products made from preservative fruits which we bought to take home as souvenirs .
Different fruits as well as other items such as chocolates, biscuits and souvenirs were very attractively displayed and were a feast to our eyes
One of most interesting products that Mrs Jones carried was a variety of different honeys, from inexpensive to the rarest and most treasured, the Manuka honey.
Jones family also produced a very large number of cherries and were one of the biggest cherry exporter in the world..
We found most of the tourists buying fruit, honey and port!!
Everything was so colorful and every part of the shop was a photo opportunity as well. We bought fruits which we never had seen before like kiwano and feijoa , and a sampling bag of assorted stone fruits for $3. The kiwifruits were very sweet, Cromwell is supposed to be the stone fruit capital of the south Island
it was an absolutely superb treat to sit and eat the delicious ice cream in the lovely sunshine in the beautiful garden with all kinds of flowers, statues and nice benches from which to enjoy our surroundings
.
