Jackson Bay and the Craypot, Haast Pass

December 16, 2011

Jackson Bay and the Craypot, Haast Pass - great freedom campsite

Thursday, November 17^th

Donna noted that she had a “free” shower this morning – no 50 cent coins required, and no timer either – so no worries about the hot water ending before finishing. It’s “rush hour” for waste dumping and taking on water, so we wait in a short que before doing these tasks (only really need to do it every three or four days). We leave the holiday park at ten AM, and drive right across the road to the Hapuka Estuary Walk. After a 20 minute walk thru the estuary, we drive our to Jackson Bay, arriving at 11:00 AM.

The Craypot (an “essential Kiwi dining experience” according to Lonely Planet), housed in an old trailer (see pic) is only open from 11:30 – 3:30. Before heading to lunch there, we hike over to Ocean Beach (40 minutes roundtrip) . While at the beach, it starts raining, and proceeded to rain fairly steadily until about 3. We make it back to the Craypot without being too waterlogged, and have a great lunch of traditional Fish and Chips – Don, grilled Blue Cod and chips for Donna. What a fun little place. It only seats 16. Delicious food; the owner is the cook, waitress, cashier, hostess, bus girl, etc.

After lunch we head back to Hasst, then go inland towards Wanaka, over Haast Pass (this road was only completed in 1965, before then Haast, a town of 300, was very isolated – still is fairly isolated), stopping along the way to walk to Fantail, and Thundercreek Falls, and the Turqoise lagoons. Along the way, we saw the same young Canadian couple from Toronto, as well as a British couple we had seen at Okarito. The drive was gorgeous, with spectacular mtns and rolling green pastures. We found the perfect freedom campsite about 15 miles before reaching Wanaka, at Lake Hawea, surrounded by fabulous peaks. We took an hour walk along the lake, before having dinner. It was still dusky at 9:45, when we decided to call it a night after a long but great day.