our next stop was a 30 minute hike to the Blue Pools. we had a couple of swinging bridges to cross. we still held on tight even though we were no veteran swinging bridge crossers:

the pools were a pretty neat, aqua green color, like many of the other pools or rivers:




after three water fall hikes and the blue pool hike in the morning, finn conked out for a long nap. we continued driving and made it to the west side of the mountains. the terrain got significantly less lush, but no less impressive. parts of it actually reminded us of eastern washington state where we lived.

the road twisted along the banks of two large man made lakes. Lake Wanaka and Lake Hawea were both formed by hydro-electric projects. there were a number of pull offs with views, but didn't seem like there was much in the way of hikes. which was okay since finn was napping.

i think the first photo is Lake Wanaka, and the other three are Lake Hawea. they looked pretty similar: