Aspiring National Park

We awoke before the crack of dawn to get to Wanaka before sunrise. The weather wasn't cooperating all too well for a pretty sunrise, but we still enjoyed the isolated Lake Wanaka at this hour. The road from Queenstown was high, steep, and very windy. Oh, and it was dark out! Secretly, I think Dave enjoyed it.

From Wanaka, we made our way into Aspiring National Park where we stopped for great views of Lake Hawea. Here we heard what sounded like a cow either experiencing labor or suffering from Tourette's. Either way, it was a loud and funny sounding cow! The color of the lake's water was similar to Lake Tekapo.

The scenery changed to rainforest as we made our way through the park. Beginning with the Gates of Haast, we saw a cascading waterfall that was a precursor to the hundreds of larger waterfalls that would follow.

As we hit the start of the west coast, we stopped at Arnott Point where we had a great lookout of the rainforest meeting the ocean. The road again became windy and Dave kept wishing he had a Porsche as there was not a soul on the road. I think he thoroughly enjoyed this drive-- probably made up for the fact that we didn't have cruise control for the other drives!