Haast to Oamaru

My second day on the road. A trip of 360km or 4hr 37min if you ask Google. I took close to 8hrs and the day turned into a beautiful cloudless day – stunning!

Here is the bridge into Haast. I left it until the morning to take photos as the lighting is better than in the afternoon when I arrived the day before. I believe this is the longest one-lane bridge in New Zealand. I measured it at 800m (from my speedo). It has two passing bays. My first time over it a number of years ago, there was a tourist bus coming the other way which is quite daunting. We both knew the drill, first one to the passing bay stops to let the other pass.

Every time, I’ve been over this bridge, I’ve wondered what it would be like to see this river in flood. It would be impressive and scary at the same time to see the raw power of Mother Nature. That said, at certain times of the year the sandflies are horrendous – another of Mother Nature’s little treasures.

First stop of the day was Roaring Billy Falls. There is a carpark but no toilets. The track is a short easy walk approximately 1 km return (25 min return). This is a perfect example of a U-shaped glacial valley, and the falls – yes, they do indeed roar!

18,000 – 20,000 years ago the Haast Glacier extended beyond the township of Haast and the present coastline and was hundreds of metres deep.

A few kilometres after going over the Haast Pass – the lowest to cross the Southern Alps at 562 metres, there is the Blue Pools rest area. A large rest area with plenty of parking and toilets. There is a 3km trail to some blue water pools, however the trail is currently closed part way along as the swing bridge is awaiting repairs.

Across the road is the Cameron Flat Campground. Bookings need to be made on the DOC website.

Lake Wanaka was the next stop for me. Once again just about got hit by a car drifting on to the wrong side of the road. The driver was busy looking at the view to his left and he forgot to watch where he was going. My heart rate jumped as there was a steep bank to my left and nowhere to go. Thankfully he pulled back into his lane in time. One of the dangers of driving through such beautiful scenery.

Then it’s through The Neck for the first glimpse of Lake Hawea. The lake is a little smaller than Lake Wanaka, 35km long and 8km wide. I found a little side road and followed it down to the lake for the perfect lunch stop.

Once I reached the far end of the lake, I decided to go through the township of Lake Hawea rather than going down through Wanaka. I ended up on some back roads that probably took a few minutes longer but there was virtually no traffic.

The Waitaki Hydro Scheme incorporates the Waitaki, Mid-Waitaki and Upper-Waitaki schemes. A series of inter-connected dams providing electricity for a large part of the Soth Island.

The Waitaki dam was the first station to be built on the Waitaki River, as a ‘make work’ project during the Depression of the 1920s and 30s.

In 1958, the Mid-Waitaki hydro scheme began with the construction of Benmore dam and then the Aviemore Dam which was commissioned in 1968.

The Upper Waitaki hydro scheme began in 1968 in response to New Zealand’s increased need for power. Work continued until 1985 when the last station, Ōhau C, was commissioned.

The information above is from the Meridian Energy website. Meridian Energy own the dams.

Aviemore Dam and Power Station

From here it was a straight run through to Omaru.

The Dept of Conservation – Walks along Haast Highway – map of walks is useful if you want to know in advance about walks and tracks.