Wild Earth Lodge

When we went to bed It was still chucking it down and the NZ traffic website said the road south had been closed, more information at 10am. Fortunately after a mediocre breakfast in a motel that I was now bored with, the road was re-opened. We stocked up in the also mediocre supermarket and did a bit of the touristy stuff before heading south.

Lake Matheson is a famous ‘mirror lake’ which has a fabulous view and reflection of Mount Cook on a clear day, we were just delighted it wasn’t raining.

The walk to the lake was through very soggy, aptly named rainforest.

We avoided the tourist trap of the glaciers, it’s too depressing to witness devastating global warming whilst surrounded by selfie sticks and whining helicopters.

As we drove down the previously closed road, we saw numerous land slips that had been cleared by impressively efficient road workers.

Even better was finding a salmon farm so dinner tonight was about to improve. I’m not sure the white heron was invited to help himself..

The isolated Haast region is as far south as the road goes, it was a beautiful drive.

Our destination was Wild Earth Lodge, near Makarora as recommended by Tash and Joe. It is a stunning place with great views.

I went for a walk and made friends with the sheep but made sure there was a fence between me and the cows, especially the bulls..

We are in ‘The Barn’ which is self catering but with everything you could possibly need, even a delivery of just baked bread - this place is fabulous!