To Lake Pukaki – via Lindis Pass

We finally left Hawea Flat last Thursday and headed north towards the Mackenzie Country. We were thinking Lake Pukaki would be a good place to park up on the way. And so it proved to be. One of the best. We headed down to Tarras and got waylaid by the coffee shop there. Then headed on up the Lindis River valley to Lindis Pass. A much painted and photographed part of the country. Which didn’t deter me.

|1| Lindis Pass – looking north from the top

|2| Lindis Pass looking south – the final climb

|3| Lindis Pass looking north from track to lookout

|4| Lindis Pass looking north

We carried on down the other side. I’m always surprised to realise that the last part of the road down to Omarama is down the Ahuriri Valley. And just across the valley is the Clay Cliffs. I stopped for a photo of the Clay Cliffs and ended up with one of the road instead. And one of a tree growing out of a hole beside the road.

|5| The road heading down the Ahuriri Valley towards Omarama

|6| Beside the road heading down the Ahuriri Valley towards Omarama

After topping up with fuel at Omarama, we drove on to the end of Lake Pukaki where everyone stops. We stopped too, before finally heading on another kilometre to park up beside the lake. Far up the Lake was Mt Cook, mostly wrapped in clouds. Even better, across the lake was the Ben Ohau Range. This gave us a constantly changing light show for the next couple of days which kept us enthralled.

|7| Ben Ohau Range across Lake Pukaki

|8| Suzi motorhome parked up at Lake Pukaki with Mt Cook hiding up the lake

|9| Panorama with Ben Ohau Range across Lake Pukaki and Mt Cook hidden at the head of the lake. Click on the photo for a los-res wider photo,

|10| Sunset over Ben Ohau Range across Lake Pukaki

I’d welcome constructive comments on the photos above. It’d be good to get any ideas for improvement and also nice to know which ones you like the best. Feel free to leave comments below. Thanks.