The scenic road over Haast Pass, the southern gateway to the West Coast, is one of the most stunning in the country.
The journey offers a variable landscape of rainforest, wetlands, lakes, glacier-fed rivers and white water rapids.
Make sure you stop at any of the short walks that are well sign-posted along this route. One of the best of them is just north of Makarora, located within the World Heritage listed Mount Aspiring National Park.
This is the Blue Pools Walk, which has become world-renowned as a must-see highlight in this wilderness region.
It features a carefully maintained gravel path and boardwalks that wind through a native silver beech forest and lead to a swing bridge strung high above the Makarora River. The views back to the mountains of the Main Divide are absolutely breath-taking.
The track continues deep into the forest, with bellbird and tui calls echoing through the trees, to a series of crystal clear pools that have been carved out of the rocks by centuries of erosion.
The glacier-fed water in these deep pools is the colour of deep azure blue, and so clear that you can see right to the bottom, making the resident brown trout look like they are suspended in the air.