All through the night it rained and was still raining in the morning. In addition the temperature has dropped. A quick check on the Internet shows that there have been heavy snows through out the mountains of the South Island. We are scheduled to be crossing one of the passes today, the Haast Pass.
For those following on Google Maps our route is going from the town of Haast to Queenstown.
Because of our recent history of having things clear up later in the day, we decided to not rush to get going in the morning.
While it is raining still, it is not coming down in the buckets it was last night. I’ve checked with the hotel and they’ve told me the pass is open. Up we go. There is no sights to be seen or pictures to be taken on this leg because of the rain. As we are getting toward the top of the pass, the temperature is dropping – 4 degrees centigrade, 3, 2, 1, 0 – freezing. There is slush starting to appear on the road. Fortunately in spite of being a mountain pass, this is not as winding as many of the roads we’ve been on. As we start down, the road quickly clears and crossing the pass turns out not to be that bad. As we head down we are going into a wide valley with a large lake.
Our luck once again holds and in total contradiction to the weather forecast, the sky clears. We are treated to some of the best vistas and mountain scenes of our trip. On both sides of the lake are mountains with fresh snow covers and turbulent wind/snow swirls. At one point we are looking down the lake and there is a rainbow forming at just over the height of the lake. Glo is again getting lots and lots of pictures.
We stop at a small café along the way for lunch with view over the lake to the mountains. Then we head on to Queenstown. On the way we stop at the site of the original bungee jumping location, an historic bridge over a gorge. The firm that started it all still is running the operation and people were doing jumps as we were there.
Tomorrow we are going on a two-day trip that will take us into the Fiordlands.
A note on driving – The entire drive on the left activity is getting pretty normal by now. There are still occasions where I forget but not many. Glo gave me a high compliment the other day. She said she’s no longer totally terrified.
3 comments:
hahah, high praises indeed!
Don't forget to switch back again when you get back to the States!
Wow... I didn't know bungee jumping originated over there. To be perfectly honest, I'd never really thought about where it originated... but now I know!
Post a Comment