Cromwell

We took our time driving from Haast to Wanaka, intending on staying there overnight. Today’s trip became an exploration of a series of waterfalls, and they all had plenty of water going over them thanks to the rain last night.

First up were the Roaring Billy Falls, which had a walk through beautiful bush to get there, tree trunks were covered with ferns and lichens, and one had a series of fungi growing up the trunk.

Unfortunately, the sun was in the wrong place to get a good picture of the falls. Next along the road were the Thunder Falls.

To get to these falls we had to drive past rocky rivers and lakes and the scenery was breathtaking. Bruce became adept at stopping the motorhome on a dime whenever I shouted “stop” because I saw a photo opportunity.

The hillsides were steep and rocky whenever there was no bush, and at one photo stop this fella was calmly staring at us from the hillside. Fantail Falls were next, but beyond them were some falls just beside the road.

We finally arrived to Wanaka, but as it was a busy weekend, the cost of camping here was going to be expensive, so we only stopped long enough to do some shopping. As we were driving the streets we were excited to see a couple of steam driven, steel wheeled tractors driving towards the showgrounds for the Wheels on Wanaka show. Too bad I did not have enough time to grab the camera.

We finally settled into the NZMCA Park at Cromwell for the night, and spent a bit of time deciding our next route.