The Glaciers

The rain started during our second night in the hostel and it was a pretty wet gloomy morning the next day. We packed up our stuff and drove into town to go to the supermarket. We won't be passing another good sized shop until Wanaka!

Oh no! Rain

We had to load up the shopping in the rain. Then we hit the road again, still driving south. There were a few walks we could have stopped at on the way to Franz Josef but the rain was heavy and didn't stop so we only made a quick toilet and snack break at a nice lake enroute.

In Franz Josef we had to do 2 and a half laps of the glacier car park before we got a parking space. It was very busy. It had also stopped raining though so we were pleased about that. We did the walks to Sentinel Point and to the glacier lookout. Then we had another car picnic. Mmmm mmm.

Cloudy Glacier Valley

After lunch we continued to our campsite at Fox Glacier village and whipped the tent up quickly before the rain started again. It was still quite early in the afternoon but we decided to just relax for a while and later we went on a stroll to the little town. Rosie was so relaxed she almost got stuck in a bean bag in the TV room.

Campsite Rainbow

The next day we went for a walk around Lake Matheson where on a clear day there is a reflection of the Southern Alps in the water. The weather had turned fine again after yesterday's rain so we got some great views. We had tea and hot chocolate in the café and then drove a little further along to road where we could get a view of the Fox Glacier.

After lunch back at the campground we did the walks to Fox Glacier. The old suspension bridge and the Moraine walk before returning to the camp site for another chill time!
We saw a rock fall of our way back from walking to the terminal viewpoint of the glacier so all those rockfall warning signs everywhere really mean it!

 

 

Slaving away at the stove, as usual!

A Day on the West Coast Wilderness Trail

The next day we got up early and made our lunch for the west coast wilderness trail, then we drove to the bike shop to be there for opening time. We got our bikes and helmets and got them all set up nicely. We still had over an hour to wait until the bike shuttle so we rode along the beach paths to the river mouth and around town for a bit.

The shuttle arrived early so we headed out to Cowboy Paradise where we would start our section of the trail. The driver advised us that we could cycle the other way along the trail for about 1km to a big suspension bridge. So we did that first. It was about 11:30 by then and we were already hungry. Rosie was starving. We thought maybe we hadn't packed enough lunch so when we got back to cowboy paradise we got BLT toasties as a first lunch. Then we started out on the 36km back to Hokitika. The first section wound downhill through bush and farmland and was great fun, we took lots of photos and didn't have to pedal much.

Exploring the beach while waiting for the bike shop to open

All prepped ready to go

Refreshing our bike riding skills in the town

First stop - suspension bridge

High!

Second stop - toastie!

I don't think we'd fallen off....!

Downhill - yay!

Resting before a hill!

When we got down to the bottom of the valley we had a section along a gravel road. There were a few tough uphill sections in this part and we had to have a few rests and motivational speeches. Just like on the Abel Tasman! We also layered down our rain jackets. It hadn't actually rained but it was cloudy and a bit chilly when going fast on the bikes.

Once we reached the top of the hill we cruised back downhill and went a little off the trail to Han Bay at Lake Kaniere where we had our second lunch. We felt a few spots of rain.

Second Lunch Stop!

Putting the toastie energy to good use - classic!

After lunch Rosie allowed me a brief rest and then we rode back to the trail. The next section ran along a water race, then a little along a road, followed by another bush section. Then we followed the trail along quiet roads back to Hokitika. The trail had a marker at every km so we were able to keep track, from km 62 to km 99. The last couple felt long, but we knew we could do it, and we made it back with plenty of time to drop the bikes off.

We drove back to the hostel and had tea and donuts. For dinner we drove 10km out of town to an old pub where we had big steak burgers and cokes. It was a good day.