Warning: picture heavy post ahead!
Haast Pass is thrillingly scenic but equally dangerous – you’ll want to gaze open mouthed at the view before you, but take your eyes off the road at your peril – full of switchbacks, narrow corners, steep gradients and sheer rock faces, it demands your entire attention. Apparently seasoned Kiwis can traverse it in around 4-5 hours, but we came nowhere near that, hampered by the proliferation of one lane bridges and the many short walks in the area (Blue Pools, Fantail and Thunder Creek Falls to name but a few) just as much as the challenging terrain. One lane bridges by the way, are a bit like our chicanes, except they are bridges obviously! And not so much a traffic calming measure as a construction issue. One particular one near Haast township that we crossed was so long that you couldn't quite see the other side and thus it had been widened in a couple of places to allow a place to wait for oncoming traffic to clear.
Haast Pass is thrillingly scenic but equally dangerous – you’ll want to gaze open mouthed at the view before you, but take your eyes off the road at your peril – full of switchbacks, narrow corners, steep gradients and sheer rock faces, it demands your entire attention. Apparently seasoned Kiwis can traverse it in around 4-5 hours, but we came nowhere near that, hampered by the proliferation of one lane bridges and the many short walks in the area (Blue Pools, Fantail and Thunder Creek Falls to name but a few) just as much as the challenging terrain. One lane bridges by the way, are a bit like our chicanes, except they are bridges obviously! And not so much a traffic calming measure as a construction issue. One particular one near Haast township that we crossed was so long that you couldn't quite see the other side and thus it had been widened in a couple of places to allow a place to wait for oncoming traffic to clear.
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| Thunder Creek Falls |
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| State Highway 6 |
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| Fantail Falls |
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| Native bush |
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| One of the many bridges on the Haast Pass |
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| Picnicking at Cameron Flat |
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| Blue Pools |
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| Sarah at the Blue Pools |
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| Delightfully well managed walking tracks |
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| Crossing the massive one lane bridge at Haast township |
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| Knights Point Lookout |
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| Final glimpse of the West Coast before turning inland once more |
Some 6 or more hours later we
pulled up outside Glenfern Villas on the outskirts of a misty Franz Josef. We
were checked into our accommodation by the friendly and helpful Cesar – an
Argentinian bloke who had come to NZ and loved it so much he had stayed. As it
was getting late (by NZ terms – 8pm is pushing it for dinner) we headed out to
town and opted for a meal at local sports pub/bar, The Landing.
Next morning, on our one full day in Franz Josef, we decided to book ourselves onto a scenic flight. We’d wanted to do the heli hike but as it required a degree of fitness and Sarah had been suffering with a bad back for the last few days, we thought it best not to risk it. As it turns out, that day had best weather for over a week which meant that there was a bit of a backlog with all the people who had had heli-hikes/flights cancelled previously now booked in. The weather was still a bit touch and go, with no-one flying around Mt Cook due to low cloud, which ruled out one of the options we’d been considering. Fortunately however, we found space on an alternative flight and were paired with a German couple, who had been trying to fly for the past few days. Finally at about 11am we all piled into our tiny helicopter and we were off, up up and away!
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| Inside our villa |
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| View from the decking |
Next morning, on our one full day in Franz Josef, we decided to book ourselves onto a scenic flight. We’d wanted to do the heli hike but as it required a degree of fitness and Sarah had been suffering with a bad back for the last few days, we thought it best not to risk it. As it turns out, that day had best weather for over a week which meant that there was a bit of a backlog with all the people who had had heli-hikes/flights cancelled previously now booked in. The weather was still a bit touch and go, with no-one flying around Mt Cook due to low cloud, which ruled out one of the options we’d been considering. Fortunately however, we found space on an alternative flight and were paired with a German couple, who had been trying to fly for the past few days. Finally at about 11am we all piled into our tiny helicopter and we were off, up up and away!
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| Watching another group head to their 'copter |
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| Our transport! |
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| No backing out now! |
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| Lower part of the glacier |
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| Top part of the glacier |
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| Sunlight on the snow |
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| Above the clouds |
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| Looking down the valley |
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| How different the landscape is just below the glacier |
Neither of us had been in a
helicopter before but we found it surprisingly stable and even nervous flyer
Paul soon relaxed and enjoyed himself as we toured up Fox Glacier, admiring the
spectacular views of ice caves and formations from above. At the top, we did a
snow landing on the neve and we all got out for a photo opportunity – and a
half! ‘Walking’ on the fine powdery non-compacted virgin snow on the neve was
hilarious – if only because Sarah could barely manage to take a step before
suddenly disappearing downward half a foot. Paul fared slightly better, but not
by much!
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| Watch out for the blades! |
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| Walking: a tad difficult in these parts! |
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| On top of the world! |
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| All smiles |
Back in the helicopter we descended back down to earth, this time
following the flow of Franz Josef glacier. Seeing both glaciers from the air was simply
exhilarating. It really gives you an idea of their mammoth size and just to see
the geography of the area is fascinating too – so many differing environments
within such a small space.
On the ground once more we drove
towards Fox for a walk around Lake Matheson – yet another very famous and
widely photographed NZ landmark. On a clear day you can see Mount Cook.
Unfortunately our luck wasn’t in – the cloud cover persisted – but we still had
a lovely stroll in beautiful surrounds and a hot chocolate fuelled lunch in the
excellent café.
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| Paul admiring the wetland |
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| Tightly curled native ferns (Koru) |
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| Lake Matheson - on a clear day, Mount Cook would be visible in the centre |
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| A glimpse of why they call it Mirror Lake... |
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| More beautiful native bush |
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| Tiny koru |
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| Koru patterns in the hot chocolate too! |
That evening, with the prospect of another long drive looming
ahead, we picked up some pizza and cider from the supermarket and utilised the
DVD library at our accommodation for a quiet night in. We took the opportunity
to feed the goats/chickens on the onsite farm too, and attempted to feed the
alpacas – they weren’t interested though, instead keeping a watchful eye on the
villain skulking in the field over the road!
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| Paul getting mobbed by the greedy goats |
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| Indifferent alpacas! |
The next morning, our last full
day in NZ, we woke to the pitter patter of tiny feet on the decking outside –
the chickens had decided to join us for breakfast. They were a little too
enthusiastic in their greeting though, which lead to Sarah threatening them
with the prospect of being turned into Christmas dinner!
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| One of the pesky chickens! |
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