New Zealand Travelogue

South Island (Te Waka O Aoraki)

The Drive South To Cromwell

(from snow to scrubland desert)

Large map South Island---Detailed Area Map

Leaving the Mt. Cook National Park area was difficult if only for its sheer beauty and tranquillity but because time was marching on ,I got up early the next day to take some sunrise shots of the Alps before I left to return two days from now. (see below)

This photo is from an elevated place called Mt. Cook Lookout at the southern shores of the long Lake Pukaki, then I kicked gear through Omarama and into the Lindis Pass between the St. Bathan Mts. and the Ben Ohau range. Landscapes unexpectedly changed dramatically from the craggy peaks of Mt. Cook to a veritable wasteland. The 80 km. stretch from Omarama to Tarras over the Lindis pass has to be seen to be believed. It's somewhat odd to the visitor but the South Island has the least amount of Kiwis living there, about 750,000, the remainder of the 3.5 million population residing on the North Island. In this 60 mile section I didn't come across any houses or any sign of life , wildlife or otherwise living off this orange-brown scrub grasslands. Trees are rare here and the wind constantly buffets your car as it funnels down between the ranges.

The grasses seen above are of the red tussock variety which clump together and obviously are not sheepgrazing pastureland. Lindis Pass ,at 971 metres (3,180 ft.) is the area's highest road (see below)

and after that its downhill into Tarras and here is where you want to make a west turn up the west coastland by getting on highway 8A, otherwise going on further south leads to a dead end at Milford Sound. Before I headed west into Queenstown, I stopped just North of Cromwell at the southern shores of lake Dunstan and took this panoramic up the lake. (see below)