NZ Day 15 - Fox Glacier to Westport

Call me crazy, but I went for a dawn run at Fox Glacier. It was SO COLD. I can hear you saying "of course it was, you stupid idiot, look at those mountains". But seriously, I thought my fingers were going to freeze off.

Despite all that, I reckon the cold was worth it to see the mountains waking up.

That morning we headed to Lake Matheson. It's a pretty famous lake because it offers an almost perfect reflection of Mount Tasman & Mount Cook on a still day. We were pretty lucky & arrived before the wind picked up too much.

Mount Tasman looks bigger because it's closer, Mount Cook is under cloud in this shot.

We had originally only planned to visit Franz Josef Glacier, but our hostel receptionist had recommended Fox, so we gave it a go. A 30min walk or so got us within 200m of the glacier. It was really weird, I thought it looked a bit like concrete. I also wasn't expecting it to be surrounded by green vegetation. But now I know better.

The landscape on the walk up to the glacier is quite impressive too - look at these near-vertical rock walls.

We stopped off at Franz Josef as well. The surrounds are much more beautiful - almost like a rainforest.

You can just see the black strip down the middle of the glacier - that's the result of a landslip a few weeks ago. Next trip I'm going to save up some money & do a heli-hike or something onto the glacier itself to get more of a feel for it.

We continued heading north up the West Coast, stopping in Hokitika for lunch. We happened to park next to the library :-)

After searching unsuccessfully for some jade jewellery we moved on. The wind picked up, showing us yet again how wild the West Coast can be.

I don't know if these rock formations have a name, but they reminded me very much of the Twelve Apostles in Victoria

Another star attraction on this stretch of road is Pancake Rocks & the Blowholes at Punakaiki. The whole area was being pounded by the water. The noise of the surf hitting the Coast along with the wind and cold spray made the whole experience quite extreme.

The Blowholes were really cool. This is my favourite - the Chimney Pot.

So awesome :-)

Here you can see why they are called Pancake Rocks - the limestone has formed in round discs that look like stacks of pancakes.

Here are the same rocks being smothered by the water from the blowhole. The best thing about this was that the wind was so strong that we all got drenched every time a really big surge came through. It didn't stop us eagerly waiting for the next one though :-)

I could have walked around this area all day, just watching mother nature doing her thing. Check out this rock - now you see it.

Now you don't.

One final shot of that wild coast - I couldn't get enough.

NZ Day 14 - Queenstown to the West Coast

I love the vibe in Queenstown - it's quite touristy but manages to retain something of the quirky NZ character that I have come to love.

It's also really pretty in the morning (and cold, can't forget cold - it was 1 degree when these photos were taken).

My run took me through the gardens, around the shores of the lake and onto the Frankton Walkway.

The bro & I left B in Queenstown to start our next adventure - we had 4 days to drive up the West Coast, explore Golden Bay & get back to Picton.

First stop was breakfast in Arrowtown. It's a gorgeous little town - very reminiscent of most Victorian country towns for me - which is obviously due to their shared goldrush heritage. One interesting thing about Arrowtown is the Chinese Settlement on the edge of town. It contains a number of well-preserved buildings that the Chinese population lived in during the goldrush.

The information signs posted around the site were fantastic - so far I have been really impressed with the attention to detail that DOC pays to historic sites.

From Arrowtown, the bro wanted to show me where he had bungy-jumped a couple of years earlier - at the original bungy - AJ Hackett. This is the view of the freezing cold river from the Kawarau Bridge.

One of the brave souls we watched take the plunge.

Then we wound our way up Crown Range Road, stopping to admire the views of the valley surrounding Arrowtown along the way.

At its peak - Crown Saddle - the road has the honour of being the highest sealed road in NZ at 1076m.

Winding back down the other side of Crown Range we made a quick pit-stop at the Cardrona Hotel.

It's an awesome old country pub with quite possibly the best beer garden in the world.

We were heading to Wanaka; the bro couldn't resist stopping on the shores of Lake Wanaka to get a few shots.

The main thing we wanted to do in Wanaka was vist Puzzling World. What an awesome place! Unfortunately we didn't have time to try the maze, but we did get to admire some of the visual illusions. Like the Leaning Tower of Wanaka.

And the Tilted House - I'm standing normally in this photo. This room made me feel a bit queasy (there were actually warning signs before you went in), which I found really odd, because I knew logically what was happening, but that logic didn't help at all with my balance.

Then it was time to head west through Haast Pass. The scenery was stunning - really stunning. I didn't think it was possible for me to absorb any more natural beauty, but the next 4 days would prove me wrong.

There are loads of waterfalls along this stretch of road; two of the most accessible are Fantail Falls.

Shortly followed by Thunder Creek Falls.

Eventually we reached the West Coast as the sun started the lower. The view from Knight's Point was something pretty special. A sign at the lookout told me that we were sitting level with the East Coast of Tasmania - we could kayak home if we wanted to!

My first glimpse of the West Coast revealed how wild and desolate it can be. No wonder only 1% of the country's population lives on this side.

That night we shacked up in Fox Glacier. Mount Tasman and Mount Cook tower above the town, providing a very eerie backdrop.