From Wanaka, we went up highway 6. All of western South Island is connected by highway 6. We drove along Lake Hawea. It's actually 10 meters higher than Lake Wanaka and separated from it by a stretch of land called the neck. As in all things South Island New Zealand, the area was beautiful. Another of my camera-melt-down days. Along the lake was the sheep station of Tim Wallace. He apparently was responsible for setting up plane flights in the area - only access to his sheep ranch (station). We then went past lake Wanaka again ( the northern end)
Lake Hawea
Lake Hawea and a mirror effect
View of the Neck between Lake Hawea and Lake Wanaka
Before we went over a large pass, we stopped for a food, bathroom break. There was a deer ranch across the road, a big group of cyclists gathering for what must be a trying run, and coaches and coaches of tourists grabbing something to eat.
Charlie outside of roadside cafe
Deer from the ranch
Off again over Haast pass. Haast, a German geologist followed Maoris and claimed he was the first European to see it. It turned out a gold miner found it first. We were going through Mt Aspiring national park. A huge gorgeous area.
Lots of single lane bridges along Highway 6
As soon as we got over Haast pass we were in a coastal rain forest. It rains anywhere from 150 to 350 inches of rain a year!! The rivers were very wide and shallow. Obviously when it began to rain, they filled up. We stopped at a few waterfalls for photos (Horse tail falls).
Charlie in the rain forest by Horse Tail Falls
Wide river valley
Valley with gravel - low water level without its daily dose of rain.
Our next stop was at a salmon farm set in a wide valley. I bought some salmon food to feed them from a deck. Our highway 6 made its way to the coast. The winds off the Tasman Sea made all the trees swept upward. Odd effect. There was a tiny town called Ship Creek. Apparently, the largest wooden ship ever built in England sunk off Tasmania on its maiden voyage. The currents in the Tasman Sea are so intense, that its wreck ended up about 100 meters or so off the New Zealand Coast, and at low tides, could be see from shore. We made a small photo stop at a famous New Zealand beach called Bruce Bay. It was really beautiful, with the trees growing down to the sand.
Charlie and me on Bruce Bay - one of the top 10 beaches in New Zealand
From there we went up and down several steep grades. Our first stop after that was the town of Fox, a tiny community close to the Fox Glacier. At long last we stopped at Franz Josef. A slightly larger town near another glacier. These glaciers are the lowest altitude active glaciers on the planet.
Possums, imported from Australia, are killing trees, so there's a bounty on their little furry heads. The fashion here is possum and merino wool combined.
A scene of Fox Glacier - the town
We are staying at the Scenic Franz Josef Hotel - it is scenic indeed. Our room faces the snow covered pinnacles. Once we got settled in our room we took a stroll around town. (It's basically 2 blocks wide and 3 blocks long). We had two goals - 1.) See the restaurants and 2.) Check out where the helicopter company was located. Since the town was tiny, this made our job easy. Charlie was a bit worried about our Helihike tomorrow. Clomping around on ice cleats on a glacier sounds tough on a hip.
View from our room
Another view from our room
The coach driver recommended a place called King Tiger. We decided we'd give it a go. One of the odder places we've tried-and one of the best. It had Indian and Thai curries. Four different kinds of rice - that would go with what curry you chose. Chinese food. Kind of pan Asian. The place was completely filled up - we'll try it again tomorrow night too.
Tomorrow - our heli-hike
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