Day 12
Distance traveled: 122km
Fox Glacier - Haast
The destination for today would be Haast and from what I'd heard, it would be a relatively quiet location we would stay for 3 nights.
Bruce Bay (Place to Visit - Free)
50 min / 72 km North of Haast
Along the way there, we found a very scenic beach so we decided to stop for the babies to stretch their legs and play with the water. Now as we had come to realize, some of the best places to visit in New Zealand are the ones you don't actually plan for and this was certainly one of them.
We reached our motel, the Asure Aspiring Court Motel (review here), at about 1.50PM. This was just the right time to get some lunch from...
The Hard Antler Bar (Restaurant)
This was one of the few restaurants in the area and it's located right next to the locally owned Haast Heliservices. It's a cozy but busy spot with a bar and pool table on one side. We heard that whitebait is what Haast is famous for it makes sense to try a whitebait sandwich for our bite.
Day 13
We decided to backtrack up northwards as there were a few stops we wanted to check out. First up was...
Lake Paringa (Place to visit - Free)
35 min / 50 km North of Haast
This was actually a very scenic spot to view. However, this was the first place where we truly understood how nasty the local sandflies (or black flies) were. There were loads of them around the lake front. We actually wanted the kids to play there but after we got bitten by a more than a few, we figured we had to leave pronto. Again, good place for scenery but just don't outstay the welcome.
Salmon Farm Cafe, Paringa (Place to visit / Restaurant)
42 min / 60 km North of Haast
Just a short distance from Lake Paringa is a great place to spend with kids. The Salmon Farm Cafe is a spot where (as the name describes) you the folks there farm salmon in the pond below. They sell fresh salmon produce and have a cafe where there are tons of salmon dish permutations. You can buy food for $1 to feed the salmon. Needless to say, our two toddlers enjoyed throwing the salmon their food as they were all fighting for a bite.
Day 14
Haast Information Centre (Place to visit)
It was raining today and we were not too keen on running too far away. So we visited the Information Centre. Apart from the touristy stuff you can buy, there is information on the history of Haast when it was discovered in the 19th century. A road was cut across the mountains for greater accessibility and lo and behold, the Haast Pass was created.
Haast Beach Service Centre (Store)
12 min / 15km South of Haast
The Haast Jackson Bay Road is a very very quiet stretch of road that's off tangent from the State Highway 6 (SH6). There is a single shop to top up petrol (freaking costly at NZD 2.23 per liter) and an On-The-Spot store. When we visited, they mentioned they were to close down by March 2017. However, as of now their Facebook page still seems to be going strong for now.
Day 15
On the way to Wanaka, we stopped by two locations.
Pleasant Flat Campsite
31 min / 41km East of Haast
This is a great place for camper vans to stop. It's next to a huge bridge that crosses the Haast River. We dropped just to stretch and enjoy a view of the rushing river.
Thunder Creek Falls (Place to Visit - Free)
33 min / 50km East of Haast
It's very hard to miss this place. There are a ton of tourist buses and cars parking by the roadside. We had no idea what there was so we parked and joined everyone on a short 5 min walk to the Thunder Creek Falls. The takeaway? A waterfall that serves as a good picture and lots of blackflies.
Distance traveled: 122km
Fox Glacier - Haast
The destination for today would be Haast and from what I'd heard, it would be a relatively quiet location we would stay for 3 nights.
Bruce Bay (Place to Visit - Free)
50 min / 72 km North of Haast
Along the way there, we found a very scenic beach so we decided to stop for the babies to stretch their legs and play with the water. Now as we had come to realize, some of the best places to visit in New Zealand are the ones you don't actually plan for and this was certainly one of them.
We reached our motel, the Asure Aspiring Court Motel (review here), at about 1.50PM. This was just the right time to get some lunch from...
The Hard Antler Bar (Restaurant)
This was one of the few restaurants in the area and it's located right next to the locally owned Haast Heliservices. It's a cozy but busy spot with a bar and pool table on one side. We heard that whitebait is what Haast is famous for it makes sense to try a whitebait sandwich for our bite.
Day 13
We decided to backtrack up northwards as there were a few stops we wanted to check out. First up was...
Lake Paringa (Place to visit - Free)
35 min / 50 km North of Haast
This was actually a very scenic spot to view. However, this was the first place where we truly understood how nasty the local sandflies (or black flies) were. There were loads of them around the lake front. We actually wanted the kids to play there but after we got bitten by a more than a few, we figured we had to leave pronto. Again, good place for scenery but just don't outstay the welcome.
Salmon Farm Cafe, Paringa (Place to visit / Restaurant)
42 min / 60 km North of Haast
Just a short distance from Lake Paringa is a great place to spend with kids. The Salmon Farm Cafe is a spot where (as the name describes) you the folks there farm salmon in the pond below. They sell fresh salmon produce and have a cafe where there are tons of salmon dish permutations. You can buy food for $1 to feed the salmon. Needless to say, our two toddlers enjoyed throwing the salmon their food as they were all fighting for a bite.
Day 14
Haast Information Centre (Place to visit)
It was raining today and we were not too keen on running too far away. So we visited the Information Centre. Apart from the touristy stuff you can buy, there is information on the history of Haast when it was discovered in the 19th century. A road was cut across the mountains for greater accessibility and lo and behold, the Haast Pass was created.
Haast Beach Service Centre (Store)
12 min / 15km South of Haast
The Haast Jackson Bay Road is a very very quiet stretch of road that's off tangent from the State Highway 6 (SH6). There is a single shop to top up petrol (freaking costly at NZD 2.23 per liter) and an On-The-Spot store. When we visited, they mentioned they were to close down by March 2017. However, as of now their Facebook page still seems to be going strong for now.
Day 15
On the way to Wanaka, we stopped by two locations.
Pleasant Flat Campsite
31 min / 41km East of Haast
This is a great place for camper vans to stop. It's next to a huge bridge that crosses the Haast River. We dropped just to stretch and enjoy a view of the rushing river.
Thunder Creek Falls (Place to Visit - Free)
33 min / 50km East of Haast
It's very hard to miss this place. There are a ton of tourist buses and cars parking by the roadside. We had no idea what there was so we parked and joined everyone on a short 5 min walk to the Thunder Creek Falls. The takeaway? A waterfall that serves as a good picture and lots of blackflies.
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