
Blue Pools Track
Glacier-fed river pools of startling blue, reached by swing bridges through silver beech forest.
Location
About this audio guide
This guide to the Blue Pools Track near Makarora, on the Haast Pass road north of Queenstown, is about a puzzle of physics: how water that looks like nothing in a glass can glow from a swing bridge. It follows the meltwater back up to the glaciers of the Southern Alps and the confluence where the Blue River meets the Makarora. Best heard on the second swing bridge, looking straight down into the pools.
This audio guide was created using AI.
Similar places
Lake Pukaki
Turquoise glacier-fed lake dammed by moraine, with long views north to the highest Southern Alps.
Rob Roy Glacier Track
Alpine valley walk over a swing bridge to a lookout facing a hanging glacier and tumbling waterfalls.
Hooker Valley track
Glacier valley walk over swing bridges to an iceberg-dotted lake below the highest peak.
Mount Aspiring National Park
Glacier-fed alpine wilderness of beech forest, braided rivers and old Māori travel routes.
Skippers Canyon
Sheer schist gorge above a snow-fed river, crossed by a historic suspension bridge high over the water.
Key Summit
Alpine knoll of tarns, bogs and boardwalks with sweeping views over Fiordland's Darran Mountains.