The route leaving Haast goes over Haast Summit into Otago, the central province of the south Island. When you pass the summit you exit the coastal rain forest and enter a dry interior zone reminiscent of the Okanagan Valleys in British Columbia and Washington State. But for the moment today’s ride begins in the lush vegetation of the west coast rain forest. This first stretch of road had many trees hanging out over the highway.
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About 30 minutes east of Haast we came across a viewpoint where the Haast River’s major tributary, the Landsborough River joins it. This view is to the northeast where the Landsborough River originates 65 km away at McKerrow Glacier just to the west side Aoraki / Mt Cook National Park.
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We crossed over Haast Pass Summit and within 40 minutes were in the more arid interior lands of the Wanaka Valley.
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Look what we found!
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This beautiful hill-top vineyard looks out over Wanaka Lake.
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Some Sauvignon Blanc,
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A taste of Pinot Noir and a charcuterie board and we were on our way.
![](https://grampafacts.ca/wp-content/uploads/2023/05/img_9481-2-wanaka-valley-2.jpg?w=1024)
We continued along the Wanaka Valley toward the Crown Range, reaching the summit a little more than a half hour later.
![](https://grampafacts.ca/wp-content/uploads/2023/05/img_9487-2-further-down.jpg?w=1024)
From the Crown Range Summit we dropped down to Arrow Junction in the central Otago valley. This was a sometimes very steep ascent, dropping 2,400 feet in 12 minutes.
From Arrow Junction we had about an hour of travel left. En route we skirted the eastern side of Queenstown and then drove down the eastern shore of Lake Wakatipu to Kingston at it’s southern tip. We settled in and prepared for an early start to Milford Sound in the morning.