Day 3 - Fox Glacier - Wanaka

This morning we learned that getting dressed in whatever we are going to wear for the day before packing the car is not the smartest idea !!!!!  Full thermals, plus jeans and shirts in a heated unit is not the best way to start the day.  By the time Al had the car packed he was sweating like anything so in future think we will just put thermals on until we are ready to actually walk out the door (sorry if that it TMI – at least it is better than us staying naked until we walked out the door – sorry for that picture I just put in your head !!)

Fox Glacier

 

After we were up and moving we went to the lookout point where you can see Mt Tasman, Mt Cook and the Fox Glacier all in one shot.  From there we went to have breakfast at Lake Matheson Café (included in our accommodation price for the night along with free wi-fi but we still weren’t able to sort out my phone).  After having breakfast (Al had bacon, sausage and egg and I had blueberry pancakes – they were delicious and I wished I could have had them for more mornings !!!)  we walked through to Lake Matheson to the viewpoint and took some photos of the reflections of the mountains in the lake.  They didn’t come out that well as the lake wasn’t completely still with a few ripples here and there.  We didn’t go all the way around the lake as we wanted to walk to see the glacier.  It was reasonably warm and we had our thermals on.  So when we got to Fox Glacier Al took his thermals off and I took my thermal top off – regretted it for the first 20 mins but then was glad I had !!!  It was mainly up hill on the way to the glacier with a couple of stream crossings (lucky Al was there to help me over !!!) – took some photos when we got to the Chalet Outlook.  At the end of the day, the glacier is just a HUGE lump of dirty ice but the view from Chalet Outlook was so much better than the view from the foot of the glacier which is what we saw when we were there with my folks in 2004.  So, for anyone going, I would recommend that you walk on the south side of the glacier i.e. if you are coming from Foz itself, drive over the bridge and turn left – drive up to the carpark and then walk from there.  Just make sure it isn’t in spring when the ice is melting and the rivers are flooding or really big as it will be impassable unless you are experienced at that sort of thing.  (It also high-lighted just unfit I have got since I stopped running - hope I can manage The Stampede on the 8^th !!!!)

 

Al at Paringa River

 



 

 The rainforest we had to walk through to get to Fox Glacier

Walking to see Fox Glacier

Finally, at the glacier (or at least as far as we can get from this side)

Me playing the giddy goat after crossing 'the raging river' !!

'The raging river'

How clear is this water ?


Strongest man in the world (an old family joke !!)

Al not quick enough to get into this photo under the rock


Al quicker to get to me !

View of the West Coast after Fox Glacier on our way to Haast


Once we got back to the car we headed off to Wanaka stopping in Haast for lunch – Al had hoki and chips and I had a toasted sandwich (which was a little strange as there was one piece of brown bread and one piece of white bread used !!!!) – but, it tasted good and that was the main thing.  The chips were lovely !!!

We found our accommodation in Wanaka – looks like they want us to sit through a 90 min presentation which we are going to try really hard to get out of – we aren’t interested in buying any time share / credits / anything so hopefully we will be successful in getting out of it.

We went into town and picked up a couple of groceries and then a pizza (really nice one) from Uncle John before coming back to the unit to eat and have a drink (we bought a bottle of Amarula at duty free).  Now to watch some TV then shower and bed – no plans made for tomorrow.

Another great day in NZ with lots of laughs and recalling of child hood memories and the last time we visited here – what more could I ask for ?  Such a great way to celebrate 25 years with my best friend.