The Glacier Country

Queenstown was also the setting for some of the “Lord of the Rings” films. We drove along a scenic road carved on the edge of the mountains and along the Lake ( second biggest in NZ and hundreds of meters deep) to Glenorchy. All along the way were signposts saying that this was the setting for a scene from the movie....no wonder. The mountains had a majestic Otherworld quality, suggesting lost kingdoms in the far distance, and the trees were bent and gnarled and dripping with moss and ferns...all very mystical! Queenstown has a friendly and young atmosphere with backpackers gathering in sidewalk cafe’s and all discussing which amazing adventure ride they were going to do next!

From Queenstown we drove over a steep mountain pass to Wanaka, another lovely town on a turquoise glacial lake surrounded by snow capped peaks...and NO, we were not getting Ho Hum about the scenery...I could not get enough! As we took our last look back at Queenstown we saw the panoramic view of the mountain backdrop that they used for the opening scenes of so many movies.

We stayed at a small campsite on the edge of a rushing glacier river and forest that night only a few kms from Wanaka...run by the council, the payment was by Honesty Box. The town has a lot of fun things to do and includes a very unusual “puzzle world” with rooms full of puzzles , optical illusions and double decker maze..spot the optical illusion with Paul!! Once we had explored the pretty town we left in thick mist to cross the famous Haas Pass which wound its way to the West Coast through treacherous hairpin bends and steep gradients. On the way we stopped at numerous waterfalls along the way, the dripping ferns and beech trees made all the more otherworldly with tendrils of mist wrapping around them. Everywhere there were waterfalls gushing over rocks and down ditches, fast flowing rivers, and thick rainforest vegetation. The Blue Pools were carved out of a river bed with the bluest water and from the swing bridge we could see fat rainbow and brown trout swimming below. We drove along the West coastline of NZ which reminded us very much of the coast of Oregon...steep cliffs with jagged pieces of land jutting from the surf. There were numerous lookouts of the spectacular coastal scenery.

Once again we stayed at a Dept of Conservation Camp on the edge of a pretty lake surrounded by mossy ferny rainforest...very scenic and pretty and only marred by a cloud of sandflies which inflicted very itchy bites!

Our first view of the Fox Glacier was breathtaking. These are the most accessible glaciers in the world and the only ones that come down to rainforest. From the car park you walk along the long rock strewn flat valley floor toward the icy mountain river gushing out of the glacier. The moraine is so interesting when you think of the awesome force of nature and the steep almost 90 degree angle of the valley sides are evidence of the glaciers retreat in the not so distant past. The walk is about an hour, and all the way the path is carefully laid out between barriers because rock falls, ice falls and avalanches are daily occurrences ...in fact a young tourist died not so long ago because he ignored the signs and walked up to the glacier face where a huge chunk of ice fell on him. The following day we drove to the Franz Joseph Glacier and did a similar walk along the boulder strewn valley floor for an hour and half with these towering cliffs dwarfing us at the bottom. The word awesome does not do it justice. Of course Paul, being Paul, could not resist climbing over the barrier for a better photo.....

The drive further along the West Coast beaches saw some wild surf and lots of rain and mist...that region gets 5 meters of rain annually!!!! No wonder the vegetation is so lush. We drove over the mountains to see Arthurs Pass , another steep pass with precipices on each side of the road and some amazing engineering as can be seen by the photos. We camped again in a Doc campsite with an Honesty box..the site was along side a bubbling river surrounded by forest...and we were the only ones there!!

As we emerged from the dripping, lush and misty West Coast via the Lewis pass back to the East coast we had to blink and get accustomed to the bright sunshine again...something we had not seen since crossing to the other side of the Island! It was not as lush, and the mountains not as high or snow covered, but very pretty and rural. The first stop was a Hanmer Thermal Springs...a resort where they had made a wonderful set of baths from the natural Thermal springs of the area. There were rocky pools of all temperatures, spa pools with therapeutic jets, waterslides for the kiddies, lounging chairs in the pools to just lie back and relax in the wonderful hot water while the chilly air around us made clouds of steam...bliss. Talking of Thermal springs, we had been doing some reading about the various fault lines crisscrossing NZ and how they, like the San Andreas fault, were anticipating the BIG one. We actually drove over the main fault line a couple of times.

From here we head up the West coastal and along the top of South Island. The weather is lovely sunny days of 13 deg, but the nights are minus 2 and lots of frost.