It is well known that the Cardrona Pub is a great stopping point on the road between Wanaka and Queenstown but have never actually been there.
As such, our goal for the day was to head over the Crown Range road as it’s called, stop at the Cardrona Pub for lunch then venture on to Arrowtown after lunch.
The pub is only about 25kms from Wanaka and all flat to get there. I had always thought it was up high on the range – wrong! Anyway, a gorgeous day in this neck of the woods, mid 20’s and hardly a cloud in the sky so we had a drink before lunch out in the beer garden then the usual pub fare for lunch.
After lunch we headed on up the range to magnificent views through the Cardrona Valley and down to Queenstown. No jumper required even up on the high peaks, it was such a good day. Took the compulsory photos then headed on down the other side of the range via the very windy road, to Arrowtown. The town hasn’t changed much over the years and is still very touristy with the usual craft, wool and trinket shops. Plus the ice-cream and sweet shops so did venture into each of those.
All that over and we headed back to Wanaka again – another day over.
Woke to rain, cold and yucky looking weather this morning. Thank goodness for a great day yesterday!
Not a cloud in the sky, not a breath of wind, how many times can we say the words “this is magnificent”. Lakes Hawea and Wanaka and the Haast Pass are beautiful on a day like today.
We set off on another day of following our nose. Decided to head a different direction to Lake Hawea today but then decided to continue on through Haast Pass as it was such a delightful day. So pleased we did, the scenery along the way has been fabulous with the weather of the kind that you probably have to be lucky to come across.
Came across a dozen parked cars and a sign to the “Blue Pools”, another little gem – the path down to the river was typical NZ rainforest, cool, damp and it’s own little ecosystem in the midst of an open plain region of sheep farming. The river and pools area was crystal clear water, rocky embankment and small piles of rocks that continual tourists had added to as they visited. An interesting little quirk.
From there, we had decided we might try to find the place that the Mulvihill’s and Graham’s had stayed at a few years ago but it was another hour further on so decided not to proceed but headed back to Wanaka instead.
stopped for a few more photos along the way – the scenery today was stunning to say the least!
