Today it was time for some more driving, this time from Queenstown to Fox Glacier Township.

We had some way points set for our drive, the first being Wanaka. The most fun and memorable road between Queenstown and Wanaka is Crown Range Road. It’s considered to be one of the most challenging drives in New Zealand, winding road going up and down with hairpin turns. It’s also said to be the highest paved road in New Zealand (1076 meters above sea level).
It was a great fun ride with amazing views.

Once we reached Wanaka it was time for lunch. We enjoyed great turkish kebab rolls by the lake followed by coffee and ice cream! There were alot of birds that wanted to share our lunch!

Our next way point was to reach the west coast. To get there we had to travere the Southern Alps via Haast Pass, the lowest of the three passes crossing the Southern Alps. Views were great but by this point I think we've already seen the best views in New Zealand.

The highway runs along a river so there are tons of waterfalls along the road reachable by 3-5min walks. We stopped at two of them, Fantail Falls and Thunder Creek Falls. The South Island is under severe drought (strange since the North Island is suffering flooding after flooding) so Magnus built a stone tower of the flat stones in riverbed!

When we reached the coast we had to cross the Haast River Bridge, a 750m long single lane bridge with two meeting bays. We stopped for coffee and a muffin in Bruce Bay and enjoyed the view of the beach and the coast line before finally reaching Fox Glacier Township and our Motel (Mt Cook View Motel) for the coming two nights. Dinner wasn't as fancy as yesterday, but we were to tired to find a restaurant.