Veronika Wild

Driving through the Lindis Pass I leave at daybreak the next morning. The road hasn’t been closed, or at least not yet. It leads once again through an epic landscape of bare brown hills and high mountains. This intermontaine basin is called Mackenzie Country and is named after an 1850's cattle rustler. It ends in the 971 metre high Lindis Pass, the third of the three crossings over the mountains, and another one which was well -known to and used by the Maori. There are no listed hostels between Mt. Cook and Queenstown on this route, nor between Queenstown and Te Anau, so I am obliged to spend another night in Wanaka. Looking back the way I have come, you can see how small the cars are. This is one of the few stopping points. There is a monument here to the release of the first seven red deer in 1871. I hear a lot more about them later   I   keep wishing I had a dashcam on this trip as there are so few places to pull over, but looking   at some of th...

Lake Wanaka -looking west from the Neck After Arrowtown, I head north as I am eager to see New Zealand’s glaciers. Mt. Aspiring National Park and South Westland as the area is known, also have high snow -covered mountains but in contrast to those parts of New Zealand that I have just visited, it is also a region of lakes, waterfalls and lush vegetation.   The first part, north of Arrowtown, is also former mining country, with Cardrona once the largest town in the region. However, since the closure of its mine, it has become a quiet rural backwater known mostly for its ski fields. The only reminders of its former glory are its historic pub, school house, Post Office, church and a meeting hall. The hotel remains one of the oldest in New Zealand. Its long serving publican James Patterson, who owned the pub from 1926 until his death in 1961, had an interesting take on road safety. Men travelling south over the Crown Range were only allowed one drink. Those travelling toward...