Welcome to day 7 of our West Coast road trip! Today, we drove through the Haast Pass, saw a bunch of waterfalls, and walked the Blue Pools walk.
Day 1 ○ Day 2 ○ Day 3 ○ Day 4 ○ Day 5 ○ Day 6
Haast Pass waterfalls
There are three waterfalls right along the side of the road as you drive through the Haast Pass. They are accessible, easy to get to, and make lovely stops if you’re on a long car ride. To read more about distances and time required, click here!
Roaring Billy Falls
Roaring Billy Falls is the first waterfall you’ll see if you’re driving south through the Haast Pass. After you leave the parking lot, it’s an easy 15-minute walk through a shaded forest to get to the viewing platform. There is a set of stairs that leads down to the riverbed, where you can walk across the stones and get closer to the waterfall. The water in the river was pretty high when we came, but I’ve seen pictures of it being much drier.
The waterfall itself is about 30 m (98 ft) tall and can be heard a little bit down the track. The walk to Roaring Billy Falls is the longest of the three main Haast waterfalls. It takes about 25 minutes total to get to the waterfall and back.
Thunder Creek Falls
Thunder Creek Falls stands at 28 m (91 ft) tall. From the parking lot, it’s an easy 5-minute roundtrip walk to the waterfall and back. As the name suggests, Thunder Creek Falls sounds like a massive clap of thunder — loud and booming. This was probably my favorite (and the most impressive) waterfall we saw.
Fantail Falls
The third and final waterfall down the Haast Pass is Fantail Falls. This is another quick and easy 5-minute roundtrip walk. The area around the falls is quite large, and you’ll see a massive fallen tree with hundreds of piles of stacked rocks. How fun!
Fantail Falls is named after the extremely common New Zealand fantail bird (or pīwakawaka in te reo Māori). The bird’s back feathers (and the shape of this waterfall) look like — you guessed it — a fan.
Blue Pools
The Blue Pools are located in Mount Aspiring National Park. There are several walks that start at the Blue Pools parking lot. The one we chose, the Blue Pools walk, is a 1-hour roundtrip walk that takes you through the forest, over some swing bridges, and ends with the bright blue-colored water of the Makarora River. Even from the parking lot, the views of the surrounding mountains are beautiful.
The track is pretty flat overall. It starts off winding through the forest and is pretty sheltered from the sun. Once you reach the edge of the water, it becomes more exposed (bring sunscreen!).
You cross a few bridges and walk over some narrow boardwalks before you reach the rocky beach. There are several places to climb down the large rocks, which is what we chose to do to make jumping into the water a bit easier. Ben was bold and jumped right in. The water, although beautiful, is extremely icy. He got out almost immediately. I stood ankle-deep in the water for a few seconds before my feet turned numb. Big nope!
After enjoying a swim (or watching other people enjoy a swim), you can turn around and walk back the way you came.
Thank you for reading day 7 of our West Coast road trip! This will be the last in-depth daily post of our trip. In the next few weeks, I’ll be putting together a comprehensive West Coast itinerary in case you want to take a similar trip. It will go over all of our favorite stops, sights, and walks. Stay tuned!
xoxo Niki
