Our route is taking us inexorably south but to get to Fiordland in the south we have to head southeast for a while as there is a range of mountains in the way. Our next stop is therefore Wanaka – a township on the south shore of Lake Wanaka. On our way we stopped for a couple of walks. The first took us to Roaring Billy Falls. There was no explanation as to who roaring Billy was or even why he was roaring, but it was nevertheless a lovely walk through a tree fern forest to the banks of the Haast river for a view across to the waterfall.
From there we headed on another half hour or so and stopped at another popular walk – the Blue Pools. These do pretty much what it says in the name. They are pools (at the junction of the Blue river and the Makarora river) and they are blue – very blue – even in the rain!
The final stretch was from there to Wanaka. We were staying in a bush cabin on a campsite on the shores of Lake Wanaka – probably the most basic accommodation we have stayed in yet, but a lovely location and nevertheless very comfortable.
