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New Zealand, Part 2

Travelling the South Island by 4x4

By Greg Annandale

April 14^th, 2019

February 2019; my wife and I spent 8 days touring the southern half of New Zealand's South Island. We had the use of a very handsome Land Rover Discovery provided by our friend James at Intrepid Rentals, complete with snorkel and roof tent, so we were keen to get off the tarmac where possible and explore some of the many gravel and mud tracks criss-crossing the island.

Armed with some of James' immense knowledge of the area (along with his map of off-tarmac routes), we started off in Queenstown and crammed as much as we could into the short amount of time that we had.

We left part 1 of the story at Mt Cook at sunset, so pick up here the next morning...

Mount COok

Our first sight, having been shrouded in clouds the evening before.

WEst Coast

We took the Haast Pass and continued north alongside the array of glaciers (sadly mostly hidden in clouds) to Matheson Lake.

The hanging lakes

Whilst passing back through Haast (returning inland) we couldn't resist the opportunity to take a short helicopter flight up to a series of lakes hidden up in the nearby peaks.

To Clyde

Back south towards Clyde and Alexandra, we spent a beautiful evening on dirt roads gaining altitude to reach Duffers Saddle, one of the highest roads in New Zealand.

Nevis Road & Duffers Saddle

The most stunning of camping spots; on the top of Duffers Saddle and overlooking the Nevis Valley (our planned route the following day).

A glorious view of the Milky Way over our roof tent, with Jupiter (the most obvious bright spot) hovering above the horizon.

Nevis Valley

Nevis Valley, one of the absolute highlights of the trip and a must if travelling in a 4x4; over 50km of stunning tracks with 30 or so river crossings to negotiate.

Mavora Lakes

Again making the most of the vehicle, we took the relatively lengthy gravel road up to the Northern Mavora Lake. There are some fantastic looking walks to do from here; for a future trip perhaps.

Milford Sound

Living up to its reputation as being one of the wettest places in New Zealand; the speed at which waterfalls develop on the cliffsides (and the sheer number of them) was quite something to see.