Lot of interesting driving the last two days. Yesterday, from Te Anau we drove to Wanaka, a three hour drive. When Bob originally looked at the map there were a lot of switchbacks on the shorter route which went over the Crown Range so we were going to take the slightly longer, less OMG route. However, it was a beautiful, clear sunny day so Bob was already thinking of taking the higher mountain route so when the bus in front of us turned up the the mountain route, Bob followed. It was spectacular. There was a series of eight consecutive switchbacks fairly early into the route. Following the bus was good, no one was making any attempts to pass!
Once on top, the road followed the ridge although there was still some climbing and corresponding downhills. Lots of beautiful scenery. Wanaka seemed to be a sports hub, we saw lots of cyclists and many ads for skiing.
Today was a longer drive to Fox Glacier, with stops it was over 4 hours. This is getting repetitive, but again gorgeous scenery skirting long lakes, through more mountain passes, although not like the Crown Range yesterday and for a while the road ran beside the Tasman Sea.
There were many one way bridges. One of the most spectacular one way bridges we crossed was at the Gates of Haast in the Haast Pass. Here are a few pictures driving up to the bridge and what was under it.
