Journal Adventures About
New Zealand · South Island

West Coast
Road Trip.

Glaciers, waterfalls, and coastline. Drive it all the way north — one of the great road trips in the world.

The Drive

Queenstown to Punakaiki.
Drive it all.

This is a road trip page, not a hike page. You stop where something looks worth stopping, you get out, you look around. Some stops are five minutes, some are half a day. The drive itself — through the Haast Pass, past the glaciers, up the wild coast — is as good as any of the stops.

Stops heading north
01Lake Hāwea + Wanaka~1 hr 02Blue Pools~2.5 hrs 03Thunder Creek Falls~3 hrs 04Roaring Billy + Ship Creek~3.5 hrs 05Fox or Franz Josef~5 hrs 06The Secret Beach~6.5 hrs 07Punakaiki~7.5 hrs
The Stops

In Order, Heading North

1
~1 hour from Queenstown

Lake Hāwea + Lake Wanaka

Otago · South Island

Lake Hawea New Zealand
Lake Wanaka New Zealand

Two glacial lakes right next to each other — both worth stopping at. Hāwea is quieter and arguably more dramatic, with turquoise water and mountains dropping straight in. Wanaka is a proper town with cafés and gear shops if you need a break before the Haast Pass.

Tip: Stop at the Lake Hāwea lookout before descending — the view from above is the best angle on both lakes.
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2
~2.5 hours from Queenstown

Blue Pools

Haast Pass · West Coast

Blue Pools New Zealand
Blue Pools crystal water

A 45-minute return walk through beech forest to suspension bridges over glacier-fed pools so blue they look edited. The color is real. One of the most impressive short walks in New Zealand.

Tip: Go early — the pools get crowded by midday. The water is freezing but people swim anyway.
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3
~3 hours from Queenstown · Roadside stop

Thunder Creek Falls

Haast Pass · West Coast

Thunder Creek Falls New Zealand
Thunder Creek Falls mist

A 28-meter waterfall that drops directly onto the road level — it's right there as you drive through the Haast Pass. Park, walk 5 minutes, get absolutely misted. Takes 15 minutes total. Don't skip it.

Note: The waterfall runs stronger after rain — which means the West Coast, so often.
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4
Quick stops · Don't skip

Roaring Billy Falls + Ship Creek

West Coast Highway · South Island

Roaring Billy Falls New Zealand
Ship Creek West Coast New Zealand

Roaring Billy is a short forest walk to a powerful waterfall — 20 minutes round trip. Ship Creek further north has two short walks: one through a kahikatea swamp forest, one straight to the wild, dramatic coast. Both worth doing.

Ship Creek →
Stop 05 · ~5 hours from Queenstown

The Glaciers — Fox or Franz Josef?

Both are on the same road, 25km apart. You don't have to choose — if you have time, do both. If you only have time for one, here's the honest difference.

Fox Glacier New Zealand
Option One

Fox Glacier

Slightly less crowded than Franz Josef. The valley walk to the viewpoint is longer but more scenic — you walk through a river valley with the glacier filling the end of it. My pick if you're only doing one.

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Franz Josef Glacier New Zealand
Option Two

Franz Josef Glacier

The more famous of the two, with a bigger town around it. The heli-hike option — landing on the glacier by helicopter — is easier to book here. Worth it if that's your thing.

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6
~6.5 hrs from Queenstown · No name. No sign. Just pull off.

The Secret Beach.

South of Barrytown · West Coast · Exact parking spot →

Keyhole arch West Coast New Zealand
Secret beach 10 years later

"There's a two-car pull-off with no sign and no indication of anything interesting. You push through a short trail in the woods, climb down a rusty ladder with a rope, then work your way down the rocks on another rope to a small rocky ledge — with a waterfall coming straight out of the cliff beside you — about 10 feet above the beach. It's completely unreal."

The whole reason we stopped the first time was a keyhole arch we'd spotted driving past — one of those things where you see it from the road and just look at each other. We found the pull-off, got down to the beach, and ended up sprinting along the sand because we were so excited to see if we could actually reach it. We made it.

Ten years later I went back — for my 40th. I'd marked the exact parking spot on the drive home the first time specifically so I could find it again. High tide this time. Couldn't get down to the beach. Sat at the top and looked at it anyway. Still worth it.

Critical: You can only reach the keyhole at low tide. Check the tide chart before you go — this is non-negotiable. The parking spot is marked exactly at the link above. There is no sign. You will drive past it if you're not looking.
Exact Parking Spot Check Tides
7
~7.5 hours from Queenstown · The Finale

Punakaiki.

Paparoa National Park · West Coast

Punakaiki Pancake Rocks

Limestone stacked in layers that look like pancakes, carved over 30 million years by the Tasman Sea into blowholes and sea stacks. A 30-minute loop from the car park — but what a 30 minutes. At high tide with a swell running the blowholes fire like geysers and the roar carries up the cliff. One of the most dramatic coastal experiences I've had anywhere in the world.

Don't miss this: Check the tide chart before you arrive. Blowholes are most dramatic within 2 hours of high tide with a solid swell. The difference between a calm day and a big swell day is night and day.
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The West Coast is wet, wild, and completely different from the rest of the South Island. That's exactly what makes it worth doing.

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