No need to pull the curtains back today, as the rain on the roof was a dead give away. Scrambled eggs for breakfast followed by a nice hot shower. Then it was time for some van maintenance. As our water hose was too short to reach, I started to move then van onto the next site, which happened to be a grass one. But as I was doing so the lady came out saying don’t back onto the grass. ”Its new grass” I explain my dilemma and she says there is a tap on the way out next to the light pole. OK, no worries, will fill up there. Gee, lucky no-one else turned up overnight as we had the last ‘concrete’ site. Actually they must have as there were 2 other vans parked on the grass.
So then we emptied the wastewater and loo at the dumping station. Then we parked at the tap on the way out. Only problem was it was on a big slope with the filler on the low side. So we manoeuvred around so we were flat. Then the dragon came up complaining we were on the grass again. Let me tell you this site had more weeds than grass. Very patchy at best. Now at least we know why the park was so clean. No one is allowed on the grass. I’m guessing not the best policy for business. Fancy putting grass on a campground where no one can use it. What a goose. So on we went.
Through more scenic roads, weather was pretty dodgy. We got to Queenstown with the hungry eye on in the van. It even beeped at me to inform me of the situation. It ended up that there was still 8L in the tank and after filling up we continued on, past AJ Hackett’s bungy jump. We stopped at a cheesery. As you do, we bought some and Zuz was amazed at the amount of Czech / Hungarian cheese (brinza) they had.
We continued
on to look for a rest stop for lunch. We stopped at a few lookouts over Lake Hawea and Lake Wanaka and eventually found somewhere to stop for lunch at a DOC site on Lake Wanaka. Nice, but it was pretty windy. Mmm, baked beans and sausages.
The weather was starting to clear and we kept going, through the Kawarau Gorge and stopped to see the roaring Meg. More lovely scenery as we headed up towards Haast Pass. Here is where it started to get, well how can I put it, INCREDIBLE!! We stopped at a few waterfalls, then a huge torrent of water rushing through the gorge at the Gates of Haast. Pooooowwwwer.
The sun was peeking through scattered clouds at various levels and steam was coming off the road. Driving past literally hundreds of waterfalls that you just hear zooming past only meters from the road, some were pretty noisy. We stopped at Fantail and Thunder Creek falls that were awesome, even the piles of rocks along the riverbank that people had stacked up were pretty cool. The light was fantastic and the conditions were very similar to those we had when driving the Milford road in the morning.
We finally emerged from the mountains, into Haast. We stopped at the visitors centre for a very quick peek as they were closing. Got our info and off we went through more mist and then sunny terrain. More coastal and we started to see a different kind of forest. More ferns that lined the road and this area was very wet and very marshy. We soldiered on, stopping at a beach for a look. Again more stacked rocks. What is it with this?
On to fox glacier, which was where we were hoping to get to today. We went up to the glacier car park and took a 2-minute walk to the glacier view. WOW!! Even from the carpark, the evidence of the glaciers sheer power was so in your face through the carved walls of stone. We umed and ahed where to stay and we finally decided to head for town (after 3 laps of the carpark), where we ended up at a campervan park. No grass here, just a gravel site to park the van. They gave us some info on glacier hikes and we set up camp on our chosen piece of gravel. We treated ourselves to chicken curry (peri peri style) and it was nice and hot. Can you imagine what the van smelt like after cooking curry in such a confined space? Downloaded more photos and enjoyed them over a glass or 3 of J.D.
The plan for tomorrow is to do a guided 4 hour tour to Fox Glacier (if there are any spots left for us), then head to Franz Josef Glacier and do a couple of the walks there and slowly make our way to Greymouth. We will see how it works out. As today I must say I was even more impressed by the drive to Haast and Fox Glacier than I was by the drive to Milford sound. Everything seemed to be more alive. Lots more rainforest, mist and wispy clouds on the imposing rugged mountains, waterfalls and water in general wherever you looked. At some points Huey lit up the snowed on mountain peaks by sunlight and revealed such beauty I cannot find the words that would do the scenery enough justice. It felt like a trip through prehistoric times, at some places I would not have been surprised if a dinosaur walked out in front of us. Then we hit the coast, which was so vastly different to all the scenery we have seen so far. I think my chin was constantly on the steering wheel as I was driving.
Didn’t even need music for this part of the trip. I think we crossed about 100 bridges, there were so many creeks that they had to put numbers next to there names as there are not enough names in existence. (i.e. so big creek 1,2,3) Well you can probably tell the JD has hit the system. But at least I don’t say F*** almost at all anymore.
P.S. I just lost my tooth filling, actually it fell out – for the forth time!!!! Not going back to that dentist, that is from sure. Bloody bridil. (Czech insult)