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!