The South Island—Wanaka to Manapouri, February 27, 2025

Wanaka to Manapouri, February 27, 2025

Today was a scenic drive to Manapouri across the Crown Range Pass and down the hairpin road into Queenstown. We didn't mean to drive into Queenstown, but the map we were using wasn't detailed enough to let us know we should have taken the road that skirts the Queenstown Airport. We ended up driving into town and maneuvering through construction zones to find the iSite office where we could get specific directions to Manapouri. Of course, I could have used Google Maps before arriving at Queenstown and avoided this 20 minute, and somewhat irritating, detour. No biggie.

We drove along Lake Wakatipu for the longest time as we headed south away from Queenstown and it was gorgeous. And after we left the lake behind, we drove past sheep ranch after sheep ranch. I've never seen so many grazing sheep ever! When we finally arrived at Murrell's Grand View House B&B at 3PM, Robert (the 6th generation of Murrells in Manapouri) greeted us and gave us a friendly tour of the property, visiting with us for about 20 minutes before showing us to our large room that looks out to Lake Manapouri and the mountain range beyond in the Fiordland National Park.

The roadwork outside Wanaka...

...slowed our progress a bit.

The Cardrona Hotel (est. 1863) still in operation.

 

 

You have to read the history about the Crown Range Pass.

Queenstown, taken from the summit.

The drive down is a white-knuckle experience; one hairpin turn after another.

 

    The summit is 3228ft/1076m above sea level.

Lake Wakatipu (Queenstown) is 50m/80km long and looks like a fjord.

For two hours we drove through sheep country along roads like this.

The house looks out to Lake Manapouri and the Fiordland National Park mountain range.

Our room is the window left of the door.

 

We walked maybe 300 feet from Murrell's down to Pearl Harbor to find the Real NZ office to see where we'll board a boat that takes us across Lake Manapouri where we'll be driven over Wilmot Pass (discovered by our host's great great grandfather) to a ship we'll board for an overnight cruise on Doubtful Sound. Our neighbor Michele did this last year and it was the highlight of her Road Scholar tour. I booked this cruise six months ago to ensure we could get a private cabin on this popular excursion.

The rest of our time at Murrell's Grand View B&B was spent relaxing in our large and comfortable room and taking a short walk (that's all there are here in Manapouri) to Frazier Beach.

We're really looking forward to the Doubtful Sound excursion. You can read about the excursion here or read what Wikipedia has to say about the sound, or wait for some of my descriptions later.