Ice Ice Baby!

Rain overnight and low cloud this morning.
Hoping that we will not have our glacier hike cancelled.
Fox Guides not overly confident about trip going ahead - touch and go..... told we would catch the shuttle bus out to helipad, go through safety briefing and then helicopter pilots will decide whether safe to proceed at last minute. As I was one of the lightest and smallest members of the 15 strong group, I was allocated a front seat right next to the pilot. Word came through - Thunderbirds are Go!!!
Brilliant views out of the front of the copter, heading up the valley and through a bank of low cloud, and then finding ourselves in brilliant sunshine at the top of the glacier. We circled around and descended about halfway down the glacier where we landed.

Taking care to disembark, we put on our crampons while we waited for the other two helicopters to land with the remainder of the group members. There were two guides assigned to the group. We chose to hike with Jess, a local from Invercargill and we chose well! She was very proficient on the ice with excellent ice pick skills and even using ropes to get us into otherwise almost inaccessible crevasses. The pictures speak for themselves -an amazing experience. Breathtaking......

We were on the glacier for about 25 min longer than expected as the helicopters were having trouble getting up to the drop-off/pick-up zone with the weather closing in. More time for photos and to take a closer look at the "emergency ration barrels" which,we had been assured, had only be used twice in 28 years. (A stockpile of tents, sleeping bags, soups and medicinal brandy!)

The helicopters did take advantage of a brief break in the weather and transported us away from the icy, magical winter wonderland and delivered us back home safely. 

The views to the coast from the helicopter then tempted us to take the 21km drive down to Gillespies Beach to take in a possible view of Mt Cook. The drive was slow along a gravelly winding road and was not unlike the other beaches we had already stopped at the day before. Still we did catch  a couple of glimpses of Mt Cook  before it was shrouded by cloud cover. 

Along the road back, there was a turnoff to Lake Matheson and we decided to spend the remainder of the afternoon walking around the lake, finishing the day with a wonderful dinner at the onsite cafe

A spectacular day's sightseeing - one of the best for this trip!!!

The long and winding road

We begin our road trip to the West Coast today
Swapped the hiking clothes with more comfortable traveling clothes (wearing a skirt today may have been a mistake- read on further )
Picked up the rental car  and we were off.

Is this the rental vehicle???

Chose the alternate route to Wanaka on the Crown Range road via Cardrona which reminded us of the Peruvian mountain roads - narrow, twisting and turning  but rewarded with spectacular views of the Remarkables and the Crown range

We drove straight through Wanaka with its hoards of tourists milling around the lakeside cafes and shops. Looks like a nice town to explore, another time
We did have a stop to enjoy the lookout over Lake Hawea which is separated from Lake Wanaka by a narrow isthmus - and yes it was cerulean!

The drive from there to Haast via Makarora had spectacular mountain vistas including a great view of Mt Aspiring. This area definitely needs more exploring....
It was a slow drive, accounting for the winding roads, very windy weather and roadworks around Haast Pass where there had been a considerable landslide
Followed the Haast River into Haast Village - a "blink and you'll miss it" settlement. Scrounged a coffee and sandwich for lunch with slim pickings on offer
At least we had now reached the West Coast. I was keen to venture down to Jackson Bay but time did not permit, so we headed north. The scenery was amazing- the Tasman Sea and the coastal scrub on one side of the road - rainforest on the other with distant glimpses of the Southern Alps.
We stopped at a couple of lookouts along the way. Even though it was gray and overcast with occasional drizzle, it was not too cold. We passed several lakes and trail heads - more beautiful spots to enjoy. There is just too much to see and do in NZ!!!! Note to self: Lake Moeraki and The Copland Track

The beaches were covered with smooth weathered river pebbles washed down by the numerous creeks and rivers from the Alps. At Bruce Bay , the beach had a collection of what I would call Story Stones - with messages written on them. Some tourists were impressed by this quirky form of artistic expression, others were appalled that the wilderness had been desecrated in this way. For me - well I didn't contribute to this body of work, (even though I wanted to, but alas no marker pen!), preferring to fossick and enjoy.

We arrived at Fox Glacier township late afternoon and checked into our modest cabin at the caravan park.
Lackluster dinner at the Hotel.... looking forward to getting on the ice tomorrow!

Te Waipounamu - The Routeburn Track

Grey skies and drizzle this morning - left Mackenzie Lake Hut at 8am, mindful of having to be at The Divide for a pickup by 1.45pm.

Short ascent to begin with,walking through beech forest, passing numerous streams and waterfalls. The clouds began to lift and we saw small breaks of blue sky as we passed through "The Orchard". As the track approached Earland Falls, the sound of the cascading falls became an almost deafening roar. There are two routes past the Falls - the normal route and the flood route. Today it was still passable by the normal route, but the jet-force of wind and spray from the falls nearly swept us off our feet!. Thankfully I still had my rain jacket on, so only my bottom half was saturated (but not for long, thanks to my quick-dry Macpac trousers!) A very impressive sight and one of the highlights of the Track.

We marched on to Lake Howden Hut, spoke to the ranger there and discovered that the Key Summit track junction was another 20 minutes further on. The sun had now decided to make an appearance and Lake Howden looked picture postcard perfect.

Decision time: swim or summit - the summit won!. We dropped our packs at the track junction and headed up the switchback path to the lookout at Key Summit. Great views finally, with glimpses of Mt Christina and Mt Little. The 45 minute return trip was definitely worth the extra time and effort.

 

Then it was down, down and more down to The Divide - 45 minutes - arriving just before 1.30pm. Time for a quick clean of the boots and a snack before the "Tracknet" bus picked us up - on time. We arrived in Te Anau at 2.30 to find that we had a 2 hour stop-over there. We ate and napped until 4.30 until the next bus arrived from The Divide to pick us up. We were very surprised to find the Polish Walking Poles and the Kiwi contingent on the bus - Team United Nations had been reunited!!!
We drove around the eastern shoreline of Lake Wakitapu and arrived back in Queenstown just after 7pm, just in time for a celebratory drink to toast the end of a Great NZ Walk