The workers arrived bright and early this morning to start work on the building site next door, but we’re early risers so it wasn’t a problem for us. We finished off our breakfast supplies which included leftover pate and cheese on toast, then packed up and hit the road.
As we drove north we crossed ( yet another!) one lane bridge just north of the town, but this one had the luxury of traffic lights to guide the flow. We spent many kilometres driving along the edge of another beautiful lake, Lake Hawea. Att this stage there was still sunshine and the views for this section of the drive were, as usual, beautiful!
At the top of Lake Hawea we crossed over a narrow isthmus of land that seperates Lake Hawea from the northern reaches of Lake Wanaka, it’s known locally as “The Neck” . By this stage the clouds were starting to descend and a light rain started, but it did have the benefit of giving a lovely rainbow over the lake.
From this point on the skies were grey and lowering for the rest of the day, but it wasn’t raining all the time. We were stuk behind a huge cattle truck for quite some distance and the narrow windy road make it almost impossible to pass. Neil kept his distance so we weren’t drowned by the truck’s overspray and also when crossing some of the bridges which had weight limit warnings.
Not long after we passed the truck we stopped to see Fantail Falls. This one is just near the road and it’s trailhead is also the start of a longer hike up to Brewster Hut, a much more challenging hike. The parks service have strongly worded signage about these longer treks, they don’t want anyone getting stuck up in those mountains!
The next paert of the drive wound up along the Haast River passing trailheads to other waterfall walks. I had planned for us to do these but the weather was miserable and Neil is still not feeling well so we decided to pass them by and carry on the misty drive. In places we could see tall waterfalls tumbling down the mountain side – it was reminiscent of the scenery in Doubtful Sound.
Finally we reached the ocean on the west coast, we’d arrived in Westland. At Knights Point Lookout, we had a 360 degree view up and down the coast. It’s a wild one that’s for sure.
We stopped at blustery Bruce Bay, where the waves batter the coast and there are signs warning you to be aware of possible debris washed onto the road .
Now we travelled on north roughly parallel to the coast, the road heading inland in places, until we finally arrived at the town of Fox Glacier. I had stayed here with Mum and Dad as a teenager, and I think I could recognise our hotel, but we didn’t stop in the town, instead we drove a few km towards the coast to Lake Matheson. This lake is one of the most photographed lakes in New Zealand. There is a trail that runs right around the lake and there are spots where, on a clear day, Lake Matheson reflects Mount Cook! This “reflection” shot is highly prized but it must be tricky to get, you need clear skies and no wind and we were definitely not here on the right day!
We enjoyed a nice lunch in the cafe and then went for a short walk to the first viewpoint on the lake. It led through that dense, mossy, ancient-looking rainforest that we have seen so much here. We could see the base of the mountains, but the tops of Mt Tasman and Mt Cook gave us the same treatment we had years ago from Mt Rainier and Mt St Helens in the USA!
However, we had better luck when we drove the extra 4km towards the coast to the Fox Glacier viewpoint. From here we could clearly see the bluish glacier winding it’s way down the mountain. Thi is also a culturally significant spot and there was a massive, and beautiful, Maori canoe sculture with it’s figurehead pointing directly at the Glacier.
The final section of the drive took us another 25 km up the road to the town of Franz Josef. It’s a larger town that Fox Glacier and I’d booked us into the Legacy Te Waonui Hotel. This one is part of the big Scenic Group but in their more “luxury” range. We were welcomed with a hot towel and a glass of Kiwi Juice and shown to our room. The rooms here all face into an inner courtyard which is a lush rainforest, you can’t see the other rooms at all.
There are several restaurants to choose from in the town but for tonight we decided to stay in and eat in the hotel. The checkin staff suggested either earlyish or lateish as they had two tour groups booked in. We opted for 6pm and had another delicious meal. Mine was a NZ lamb rack and Neil had a mushroom risotto.
After dinner we went down to the bar and found a spot near their fire. The bar area was packed initially with the tour group crowd but shortly afterwards they all disappeared upstairs to the restaurant. Unfortuntely so did the bar staff! We had though we would have a coffee in front of the fire, but Neil was informed that the only coffee available was upstairs in the restaurant we’d just left! ( Despite there being a coffee machine in the bar!) So we went back to the room and had our coffee there instead.
The weather report for tomorrow is pretty grim, we’re in the wettest part of the country here and I think it’s going to live up to it’s reputation! I’m hoping to at least be able to do the walk up to see the glacier… but we will see.