We decided we would take the extra scenic route to Mount Cook via Wanaka and grab a late breakfast there.
The road trip is a feast for your eyes and in some ways a challenge for your nerves. You do have to be careful and ensure you are looking at the road and not losing concentration as NZ roads do need your 110% attention.
Whilst they have beautiful views, the roads are not great. There are plenty of “one way at a time” bridges, almost all of them without traffic lights, just a giveaway / yield sign, sometimes with very little warning just before the bridge starts, and they are on roads with a 100kph limit.
Overtaking / passing lanes are almost unheard of (at least in the areas we have been driving) and lots of winding roads with hairpin turns on the sides of ravines. The road between Queenstown and Cromwell is particularly shocking given the volume of traffic it handles.
This likely sounds harsh, but driving here feels like what driving at home in New South Wales would be like if all the road improvements of the last 40 years never happened. Partly an unfortunate situation of difficult terrain, lower population and smaller economy I would assume.
Like Australia, New Zealand drives on the left. Not an issue for me, as thats my normal. However with lots of tourists from Europe and the US/Canada, left driving combined with roads with little traffic in some sections and lookouts everywhere it can be a deadly combination. Lots of history of drivers exiting a lookout onto the wrong side of the road and crashing head on with a car coming round the next bend. Arrows are painted on the roads everywhere to remind people, and all rental cars have stickers “Drive on left” in them.
On the way North to Mount Cook you will go through Lindis Pass, which according to the interwebs is the second highest “State Road” road (National HIghway) in NZ, and the highest in the South Island. At the peak there is a lookout you can climb. I only went part of the way up.
Turning off the State Highway to Mount Cook, the road views turn even more spectacular, and there are lots more one way bridges. About 10km from the turnoff you go past a small Lavender farm, and for $5 a person you can walk through the fields and sit on some strategically placed chairs for pics.
This sounds silly but for $10, this is one of the best things we have done this holiday. The colours and the aroma from the flowers is intense.
Of course I hired an EV, and the views from this charger are stunning.
It's all about the coffee 