Travelling to the West Coast

We have spent the last couple of days travelling from Milford Sound to Franz Josef on the west coast. The drive was spectacular, particularly the Alpine Pass from Queenstown to Wanaka, and needless to say the roads are windy and narrow with great lookouts. We walked to the Blue Pools, climbed up to the Haast Lookout, Fantail Falls, Dune walk, where we saw Hector Dolphins, and a great hike to the remote Munro Beach.

 Two nights ago we did our first freedom camping on the beach just south of Haast. Rob noticed little cut out roads through the shore brambles that led right to the beach. The waves were crashing in and there was space for our van, no one else there and we were facing west for a great sunset!  The sunset we got as you can see but we also got sandflies and mosquitoes, lots of them. The walk on the beach at sunset was worth it.