Haast Pass

The Haast Pass, a mountain pass in the Southern Alps of the South Island of New Zealand, takes its name from Julius von Haast, a 19th-century explorer who also served as Provincial Geologist for the Provincial government of Canterbury. Māori used the pass in pre-European times, but not on a regular basis.It is one of the three passes where a road crosses over the Southern Alps - alongside the Lewis Pass and Arthur's Pass, although the Homer Tunnel passes under the Main Divide. The road through Haast Pass was converted from a rough track to a formed road in 1966. and finally received a complete tarmac surface by 1995. In the early 20th century, a railway from the West Coast through the pass to Otago was considered; it would have linked the Ross Branch with the Otago Central Railway, which then terminated in Omakau. However, the line never came to fruition; the Otago Central Railway terminated in Cromwell and no railway was built south of Ross, just a lightly laid bush tramway to serve logging interests near Lake Ianthe.