Saturday, February 07, 2009

NZ Part 8 - Haast and other West Coast delights

we arrived at Haast so late (becos of the Bee Farm incident) that the hostel gave up our room! we were not able to contact the hostel cos there was no phone signals. so in the end, we took a smaller room with 4 beds and put 1 mattress on the floor. ah well.... btw, i found a picture of the bee farm.




















and the lonely west coast road devoid of traffic, such that we could not flag down any help...

















anyways we did get to haast eventually, in one piece. haast is a good stopover place to rest before heading off to explore the waterfalls, rivers, lagoons in the west coast.

the thunder creek falls























































passing through the gates of haast where a gorge rages below
















































































































































































































fantail waterfall, i s'pose named after the fantail bird cos it flares out like the bird's tail?





























a dead tree installation getting in the way of a good picture.






















santa's helpers here to remove it















































having a cold dip















































































walking though temperate rainforest to get to the Blue lagoon.


































































for those collecting bonz's funny shots, here's one of the best. to prevent sandflies (very ferocious in this area, worse than tropical mozzies) from biting the tummy.
























that's all of west coast pics. now heading off to lake wanaka. some miscellaneous shots along the way.