Pea Soup and Patience

Moving on down the coast we stopped for lunch at the small settlement of Okarito,in a lovely camping area between the beach and wetlands. We were hoping to reach Franz Josef Glacier for a possible afternoon helicopter ride but as we approached the mountains it was obvious that the cloud was too low and then the rain started. The forecast was not good for Thursday so we had to decide whether to be patient or move on and hope to see the Southern Alps from the air on the Mt. Cook side on our return. We decided to stay and Thursday was nothing but pea soup.

Behind this hopeful sign is the Fox Glacier!
However, life was not all bad, we shared breakfast in bed and with a stroke of luck found that we could follow Chelsea FC live on-line as they beat Napoli in one of the great comebacks in Champion’s League history. We kept busy with domestics: laundry and emails and then had lunch and a drizzly walk around Fox . Would tomorrow be any better?

Patience Pays: we were booked for a 10:00 am flight and when we opened the curtains there was a surge of excitement, the day was perfect!

Pictures: 10:45 am : Mt. Tasman in the foreground and Mt. Cook.

Our 45 minute flight took us over the Franz Josef and Fox Glaciers and around Mt. Cook before landing on the Fox. We were the first down and had about 5 minutes to ourselves before there were six choppers on the snow.

Mission accomplished we headed out of town really pumped and feeling very fortunate as some cloud was already moving in. Highway 6 winds back to the coast and within 2 hours we were at Knight’s Point.

Not long after that we reached the Haast River and the Te Wahipounamu World Heritage Area.

3:00pm

Along this entire route there is an overpowering presence of nature. The pristine rivers and lakes, unique foliage of the forests of Kahikatea trees with the mountains as a back-drop make this wilderness area incredibly inviting. If you are in search of serenity and solitude look no further because any moment can be sublime.

Turning inland from Haast the road snakes along the Haast River climbing up to the pass and Mt. Aspiring National Park. We passed numerous ravines and falls including Fantail and Thunder Creek, stopping for a lovely half hour walk through the forest to the Blue Pools, it’s impossible to show them all.

At 4:15 pm we reached Lake Wanaka.

We love driving at this time of day, the light is superb and the air is absolutely clear. As the shadows fall it makes for wonderful photography.

As if Lake Wanaka was not stunning enough we then came to Lake Hawea and drove the length of it before deciding that a night here was appropriate. We are staying at the Lake Hawea Hotel where we got the last room and this is the view from the balcony, watching the light fade across the lake from the dining room was even better.

How many places in the world can you see the stunning variety of landscape that we saw today in the space of a few hours? It has been a truly jaw dropping day!