We started just in time, and were rushing through the initial leg of the journey. This was one of the more relaxing drives through the rainforests of West coast, covered with trees on both sides, giving you a sense of serenity. We saw hundreds of road kills of common brush tail possum, which are native to Australia but invasive in NZ, which saddened me quite a bit with an ire towards reckless drivers who caused them. In one stretch, we could see one dead possum for each 100 meters or so. Nature would be beautiful only as long as we take care of it.
The landscape itself was very different and puts the mind at ease, even when going at 120. We stopped at a roadside food truck at Byron Bay for breakfast of coffee and crepes, while admiring the deep blue waters. Onward, we came to the roadworks spot about 30 mins prior to closure, but work was still going on, using a helicopter to ferry loose rocks from the mountains. Helicopters seem to be highly utilitarian in this place!
After a long drive and numerous one way bridges that NZ is famous for, I was wondering if NZ has deliberately kept the one way bridges only for the historical value or to keep the drivers alert every now and then. Irrespective of the purpose, most of the priority was in the way I was travelling, which was nice. After a few photo stops to take in the irresistable natural beauty, we did a bit of detour near Haast Pass to get to the tip of Haast Beach, as it looked wonderful when we got a glimpse of it over a small one-way bridge. Haast Beach had a lovely little lagoon with different shades of blue and turquoise filling the horizon, along with the natural Paua stones that are abundant here. But this was way more than a small detour has we had to travel some 20km to reach the beach and the kids were getting restless, so I had to rush on the way back to make up for lost time.
An hour further into the drive, we were treated to amazing views of the twin lakes, Lake Wanaka and Lake Hawea within a couple of km of each other. Each were beautiful in their own way. While both boasted turquoise and blue waters of the Glacier melt, I loved the contrasting landscape surrounding Lake Hawea more. Camera doesn't do justice to the sheer awesomeness amd beauty of the place.
Near Lake Wanaka was a couple of attractions that we wanted to visit - Puzzling World and National Transport Museum. Puzzling World blew our mind with an array of puzzles that keep you occupied for hours, even having puzzles at each table that you can do while munching on your food! We had only a couple of hours until closing, so we had to rush through the illusion rooms. The outdoor maze was just amazing, that kept us intrigued..It was also unlike other mazes are part of the maze was hidden underneath the overhead bridges which kept us blinded as to the real solution and made us wander back and forth in search of a solution. Only my daughter managed to crack it, while the rest of us gave up at some point due to the sapping heat dehydrating us. It is highly recommended to carry a bottle of water while doing this course. My son and myself managed to reach the four towers, but had a tough time even locating the emergency exit afterwards! As we left Puzzling World taking a few illusionary snaps as memoirs, the only regret is that we didn't get to spend more time here, it can easily keep you occupied for the full day!
The drive into Queenstown through the mountains was somewhat complicated by Google maps' triggered detour, but the steep S curves, braking hard at 40kmph to make the turns gave me a sense of happiness as it felt like a real mountain drive, rather than crusing at 100kmph like on the highway. Usually such detours makes me wonder why Maps doesn't have a "stick to highway" route recommendation, but definitely not in NZ as such detours invariably give us more than what we were after!
Queenstown itself was a beautiful town nestled on one side of the S-shaped Lake Wakatipu with crystal clear waters despite being extensively used for lake cruises, speed boating etc. It definitely was more developed and beautiful than the other towns, with the residential apartments nestled in the mountains and hotels lining up the beach front. We checked into Crowne Plaza overlooking the pier, but finding a parking slot along the beach front was a challenge! Queenstown is also a lot cooler than the other towns, so once we huddled in the warmth of the hotel room, we didnt want to get out again..
After a lot of western fare recently, we decided to stick to Indian food for dinner. We found multiple Indian restaurants close by for a takeaway dinner, but the quality of food was probably the worst in NZ so far, while being the priciest. Quantity was similarly large as the other towns, so no grouses on that aspect. Beggers cannot be choosers though!
Today was an awesome drive that I would rate as the best drive so far in NZ, better than Arthur's Pass, and Puzzling World was definitely a hidden gem!
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