Days 12 & 13 - Its Raining Again Mother!!!

Day 12   Saturday 11th September


Having decided to stop a second night at the 'Rain Forest Retreat' this morning greeted me with heavy rain so I decided to stay put on the camper site unless the weather cleared up. Call me a wimp, if you like, but there was no way I was going for a 1½ hour hike in the pouring rain. Not just to see a glacier. Its been there for thousands of years it isn't going to go away.
So, I took the opportunity to get caught up with my household chores. I got all my washing done and dried and I got a computer back-up done. This is something I try to get done at least once a week, I would hate to loose all of the photos and video I now have on the laptop.
For those of you who like that sort of thing, here are a few stats about my NZ journey so far:
For those who like them here are a few stats about my New Zealand trip so far:

• Distance Covered by road = 1449 miles
• Fuel costs = $456 = £211
• Cost Per Mile = 15 Pence (approx)
• Total daily costs = £48
• Budgeted Cost = £55
• Saving against budget = £7
• Result = Happiness (apologies to Charles Dickens and Mr Micawber)

Additionally, I am attaching a couple of maps to indicate the route I have taken from Auckland on North Island and as far as I have got on South Island:

Route on North Island - Shown in blue

Route Down South Island - Shown in Blue

At the end of a quiet day spent waiting for the rain to stop, which it didn’t, I took myself off to the Monsoon Bar (appropriate name at the moment) for a couple of pints of Tui, but had to leave before the rugby match between the Wallabies and the All Blacks had really got going. Apparently the All Blacks won by a single point.

Day 13 Sunday 12th September

Still raining this morning but have to leave anyway. Usual routine but slower due to a lack of motivation (it’s the rain), and hit the road at 09.30. Decided to head down the road to Fox Glacier and hope that the weather improves on the way. The following picture was taken just South of Franz Josef Glacier:

Near the village of Franz Josef Glacier

I arrived in the village of Fox Glacier at about 10.00 but turned off to visit Lake Matheson which is renowned for its tranquil reflection of the peaks of Cook, Tasman and La Perouse. However, today the peaks were totally shrouded in cloud so the following pictures are perhaps no quite as impressive as they might have been. I was quite impressed by the suspension bridge which leads you towards the lake, it bounced quite animatedly as I walked across:

JB at the Suspension Bridge - It sure did bounce

Matheson Lake

Matheson Lake

Following the visit to the lake, during which time the rain had miraculously stopped, I returned to Fox Glacier and headed up the Glacier Access road. Unfortunately, by the time I pulled up in the car park, the heavens had opened again and there was no way I was venturing out. So, took a couple of shots in the car park and departed, under a cloud, literally.

Near to Fox Glacier - In the rain

By this time I had decided that I was not fated to get any closer to the glaciers than I had been on Friday evening so, headed off South in hopes of reaching better weather. The Route 6 highway meanders through the Mount Cook foothills for a time and then briefly touches the coast at Bruce Bay:

Bruce Bay with Spray and Rain

Bruce Bay Pebble Deposits

The pounding sea here was casting up a spindrift that merged with the rain to dramatically reduce visibility.

The road turned back inland and after a bit more climbing brought me to Lake Paringa, well known for its Brown trout and Quinnat salmon.

Lake Paringa

Another half hour and I was once again back on the coast at Knights Point Lookout where there is, apparently a colony of Fiordland penguins. I didn’t see any though. However, the weather was starting to improve a bit.

Knights Point

JB at Knights Point Lookout

Soon afterwards I arrived at Haast and the road swung inland with a vengeance, following the Haast River up into the hills before turning South across the 1,867 ft high Haast Pass over Mount Brewster. The following pictures were taken where the road crosses the Haast river in an area known as the ‘Gates of Haast’.

River Haast at the 'Gates of Haast'

Road Bridge at the Gates of Haast

Once over the pass the road entered an area known as ‘Cameron Flat’, overlooked by the peaks of Mounts Aspiring, Pollux, Castor and Alba.

Cameron Flat

It wasn’t long before I came to the North end of Lake Wanaka, which is one of the lakes in the region created by glacial activity. The scenic lookout provided the following views:

Lake Wanaka

Lake Wanaka

Another of the glacial lakes, Lake Hawea,

Lake Hawea

Lake Hawea

JB at the Lake Hawea Lookout

lies alongside Lake Wanaka and the road crosses from Wanaka to Hawea to skirt the shores of that lake to its southern end when it crosses back over the hill into the town of Wanaka itself.

So after a day,s journey of some 308 kms through some spectacular landscape and some atrocious weather I finally arrived at my watering hole for the evening, the ‘Lakeview Holiday Park’ in Wanaka. It had been a tiring day though and after drafting the Blog update and dealing with a couple of emails, it was time to hit the sack. So Time for Bed said Zebedee.