Today had to be a long drive day if we wanted to get to Picton for the Inter-Island transfer by Friday morning. We left Te Anau at 7:30 am and traveled up Route 6 towards Queenstown. The morning was beautiful with low lying clouds half way up the Alpine mountains.
Swinging to the east towards Cromwell, you pass the central Otago wine region that grows tremendous Pinot Noir grapes. We stopped for a late breakfast and the owner of the establishment told us the entire area was expanding like crazy. The large fields of grape vines were just fields of grass inhabited by rabbits a few years ago. This area will certainly become a world presence for wines in a few years as the vines mature.
The road then starts to go northeast to Omarama and then more directly north to Lake Pukaki where there is a visitor stop with a great view of Mount Cook. Also, at this point in the travel you see that they are farming Salmon in the canals that are fed with iridescent blue-green glacial waters of Lake Pukaki. Earline had some of the farmed Salmon in Ashburton and said it was absolutely wonderful.
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| Canals Farming Salmon |
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| Lake Pukaki |
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| Mt. Cook |
Following Route 8 to the northeast, you pass Lake Tekapo at the town of Tekapo. This is a very touristy town that is centered around mountain wilderness activities in the warm seasons and skiing in the snow seasons. Several of the self-guided arranged tours plan stops in Tekapo. I personally would not see much use in stopping at this tourist town unless this was where you ended your driving day. At the town of Fairly, we traveled towards Geraldine before meeting Route 1, the costal highway to Ashburton where we spent the night at Hotel Ashburton. The cost was $139 NZD per night but this included a cooked breakfast for two that is worth about $40 NZD. It was good to get off the road!
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