South Island Day 9 – Head to the west coast

We got up pretty early on our 9th day in New Zealand, to get on the road by 7 30am, since we planned to cover a lot of ground. The day wouldn’t be a total driving waste, since there were a few spots we planned on stopping at.. But the goal really was to cover ground.. I woke up with a bit of a cold definitely, but we were heading out of the damp cool area, and driving towards sunshine!

The misty morning gave us a couple nice shots of the farm lands.. Sheep, Sheep and more sheep.. Together with Deer farms and cows and horses..

It was a bit of a surprise to see all of them in the same field sometimes.. And I just couldn’t get used to seeing so many Deer.. Where I live, we see lots of wild deer – never really occurred to me that they would be farmed in some places..

 

The route was going to take us back up North, towards Frankton, then along a couple lakes to Haast Pass (to get through the Alps), then along the coast to our destination of Fox Glacier – depending on the timing..

The above is a pic of Lake Wakatipu – we’d be driving along the right side of it.. Swerving in and out along the water.. At one point, a couple kilometers after seeing a sign referring to a shepherd herding his flock, we came across a road full of Sheep!  They were walking along the road (the only route possible, since it was a mountain on the right, and a lake on the left.. A river of sheep.. But the folks in the pickup truck, which was carrying a few crazed dogs (going wild wanting to herd their flock), waved us on.. So we just drove slowly, and the sheep parted a path for us to drive through them.. Here is a pic after they parted, some jumping the guard rail, some getting up on the hill..

 
 

Once we hit Frankton, rather then take the faster highway, we took the scenic route, which brought us up over the hills rather then around them.. This is a look back from the way we came..

The scenic route brought us through Cardrona then Wanaka… Where I couldn’t get over the views.. Looking back in the camper while Mish drove, every window looked like a painting..

Here is a pic of Lake Wanaka, where we watched some stunt flying for a few minutes (Apparently one of the things you can buy a seat on in Queenstown – sit in the passenger seat while the pilot flips and spins ya)

We made a quick stop in Wanaka.. Where I must say, much like all over New Zealand, the public washrooms were great – very clean. We had a camper with a shower and toilet, but while it was a comfort to have that backup, New Zealand really made it easy to get by without them. Next time, we may just get a van with a bed and sink.

We followed the Makarora river into Haast Pass, making one stop for lunch along the river.. Where I gave way to my cold, and slept while Mish drove..

 

 
 

Once I woke up, we were on the other side of the mountains, looking out towards the ocean.. We stopped at Haast beach for a little stretch… Buggy but warm and sunny… Bit of a rocky beach… The sand flies were a bit fierce – and when I moved one of the beached logs, the swarm of bugs underneath that came jumping out made me jump! The birds thanked me though.

Leaving Haast beach, we headed through Haast Junction, and a one-way bridge that was very long.. had to play chicken with people to make it to the couple tiny little passing areas..

There were quite a few gorgeous little bays along the coast.. Another spectacular drive..

We heard of a few places where penguins frequent.. And since we didn’t have time to check out the main areas which are at the southern tip of the island, we decided to try our luck at a couple spots along the coast. The prime time to catch one on the beach is at dusk though.. So we didn’t get to see any.. Though the Monro beach walk was at least a break from the driving… Lots of bugs though once we got to the beach – way too many. It was fine as soon as you entered the bush.

There were some big trees along the walk.. and at one point I nearly tumbled down into the forest from the walking path. I’m someone who rarely loses their balance, and pretty much never falls.. but when I slipped off the side of the trail, I was down in half a second, clutching the dirt to keep from sliding down into the depths..

We continued up the coast until we arrived at Fox Glacier..

As you may get from the picture above, the first thing that struck me was that while here lies one of the world’s most accessible glaciers, and one of the most active, etc etc.. It’s barely commercialized.  It’s basically surrounded by some farm lands, some homes, a little school, some restaurants, and a few tour companies.

We got a camper spot at Fox Glacier lodge, confirmed our heli hike for tomorrow, then quickly checked out a couple viewpoints. The clouds didn’t co-operate with us – and tomorrow was supposed to be cloudy as well.. So the photos aren’t the best unfortunately..

Lots of cows chatting it up at the Peak view – I had a brief conversation with them 😉

We had dinner at the Cafe Neve, which had good food but horrible service – got my food wrong, forgot to return with the corrected one, gave us the wrong bill, and forgot to bring me my second beer… It wasn’t busy at the time either.. I guess the waitresses at the time were new or something.

We hit the showers (which were the best yet)… Took in the view of the southern stars again.. Then hit the sack to be up in time for our Heli Hike onto the glacier!