Day 8

Packed up our bags and got in the car for our drive northeast towards Franz Josef. But before that, we made sure to drop by Lake Wanaka to have a look at quite possibly the most famous tree in the world – so famous it has its own hashtag – #thatwanakatree.

I’ve seen so many photos of this tree, and it always had the mountain range of the Mt. Aspiring National Park in the background. But it was really foggy and gloomy when we went there, so the mountains were not in sight. The grey skies and fog really gave the place (and our photos) a really moody atmosphere, which is a nice departure from sunny blue skies.

An hour’s drive from Wanaka was the Blue Pools. Blue has always been my favourite colour, and the blue we saw here was simply mesmerizing. It reminded me a lot of waters around a tropical beach.

Over here, a few extremely amicable fantail birds tried to befriend us. I love these birds! So chubby and zippy, like little Energizer bunnies with wings.

After Blue Pools, we made our way to the first of 3 waterfalls we were going to see today: Fantail Falls.

Nearby Fantail Falls was Thunder Creek Falls. Very accessible from the car park, and standing at 96 metres tall, it was quite a sight!

Next was Roaring Billy Falls. We could hear the rushing water from the forest walk, and when the forest opened up, it revealed a large clearing filled with pebbles. It was quite challenging to walk across this pebbly landscape, but soon enough, we reached the falls.

After the falls. it was a long drive towards Franz Josef. We stopped at Knight’s Point lookout – the first time we were seeing the coast in a while.

Our last stop for the day before checking in our airbnb was Lake Matheson Jetty, one of those iconic views of New Zealand with Mt. Cook reflected in the lake. However, it was cloudy when we were there, so view of the peaks of the mountains was obstructed. The water was perfectly still, though. And the scenery was so satisfyingly symmetrical.

Where we stayed

We put up in an airbnb in Franz Josef for the night. Once again, a stunning airbnb in a stunning location and equipped with good facilities, including a stove!