Day 11: Travel Day
We designed Day 11 to be a leisurely drive from Queenstown to St. Joseph. Not having done much research before the day arrived, we took a quick look at the maps and guidebooks and found a decent looking hiking trail midway. We left Queenstown later in the morning and stopped in Wanaka for lunch with a lake view. It would be our last time seeing the blue lakes and we wanted to soak it all up!
Following lunch, we set out for the hiking destination. The drive, as always, was beautiful. Becca fell in love with the fluffy yellow hills along the way.
Our midpoint destination was the entrance to the Blue Pools hiking trail. We saw fellow hikers in swim wear, so we packed ours into our daypacks in case we encountered a good swimming area. Aptly named, we came across crystal blue pools not long into our hike. We decided to continue hiking out a couple of miles and then turn back to swim before heading to the car. With the pools being the main attraction, we only encountered two other pairs of hikers once we were beyond the pool area. Our 4 mile round trip was a fun combination of cooly shaded forest trails and single lane tracks through the brush.
On one of the brush sections, we surprisingly came across a sleepy hedgehog! Not wanting to disturb it too much, we quickly snapped a couple of photos and left it to rest.
Being out on the trails didn’t leave much room for changing into swimwear. The Europeans had no problem changing on the beach and flashing a quick bit of skin. We were not quite as keen on that idea, so we took turns being on the look out while the other changed on a more wooded part of the trail.
The pools didn’t disappoint. Refreshing would be the mild way to describe the freezing waters. We were grateful for an incredibly quick way to cool down, but didn’t stay in too long. After re-warming to normal body temps, we took one more swim.
Around the time we were getting hungry again, we found ourselves in the tiny town of Haast. Our options included a small “cafe” inside of a grocery/convenience store, and the Hard Antler Bar & Grill. We opted for the Hard Antler. The food was okay, but the service was lovely, and we enjoyed a unique space. It was a hunter/fisherman’s palace – a good meat and pototoes kind of place with taxidermy and trophy antlers attached to nearly every surface. Scott also found some funny information signs inside:
Our AirBNB for the night was one of our favorites. We stayed in a handcrafted mini A-frame chalet. The details in the house beautifully displayed the love and craftsmanship that went into making it. We enjoyed the back patio for a bit of stargazing before bed.
This was Scott’s first attempt at nighttime long exposure photography. This photo was a 15 second exposure at 3200 ISO, F/2.8, 16mm. Most of these stars were not visible with the naked eye. It is out-of-focus but was the best one of the bunch. He’ll work on getting the focus better next time.
More photos available on Smugmug.