Leaving Haast, we immediately stopped to pick up a couple of hitchhikers. This isn’t something you’d do in the US but here in New Zealand there are lots of young people who are out and exploring. There were two young men along the road just as we were picking up speed so we stopped and took them down the road to their next destination. They were college students from Holland. Both were civil engineering majors. They have finished their third year and are taking a 5 month break before finishing their degrees. We had a nice conversation with them and learned something about their experiences and their life.

After we dropped them off we continued on south to Queenstown. As we approached Queenstown from the north the scenery was spectacular. There is a deep gorge along the road and numerous stops for scenic overlooks. Toward the end of the gorge is the city of Queenstown. Viewed from high above, the valley is quite beautiful. The drive down to the plain has plenty of curves but eventually the road straightens out. Queenstown is a tourist favorite but we didn’t have time to stop here, our interests lay elsewhere.

We drove for an hour along a lake shore and then turned off toward Fiordland National Park. Another hour on good roads took us to Te Anau. This is a beautiful town on the eastern edge of Fiordland National Park. From there roads run north and south to access areas where there are tours. We stopped in Te Anau at the TOP 10 Holiday Park and got a nice spot for two nights. At the office we purchased tickets for two tours. The Fiordland National Park consists of a series of fiords which make the southwestern coastline of the South Island. This area is almost totally inaccessible by road so if we wanted to see the area we needed a boat, thus the tours.