On the road again...

Glacier Region to Arthur’s Pass


We left the glacier region today…Christmas Eve Day…for an eight hour drive with Brian our Canterbury Trails guide to Arthur’s Pass National Park and a two night stay at the Wilderness Inn. We stopped by Franz Joseph Glacier just up the coast a few miles from our Fox Glacier base for a trek through the rain forest just below the terminal end (snout) of the Glacier.

We made numerous stops for treks and photos but stopped in Hokitika for lunch and shopping since it is a bit of a regional market. Hokitika is on the Tasman sea and was settled in the mid 18th century as a base and port for gold mining supplies. Today it is the center for greenstone (jade) sales with several jewelry centers. Brian continues to amaze us with his breadth of knowledge, passion for guiding and good humor. I could not recommend him more highly for guiding services in the South Island. His 4WD vehicles are pristine and comfortable. They appear new but are actually fully rebuilt vehicles from the mid 90’s…and he runs their turbo charged diesels stoutly.

Departing Hokitika we moved up country into the NZ southern alps driving through winding canyons along braided rivers, waterfalls and wildflower fields. Braided rivers appear to be multiple rivers occupying the same broad plain during calm weather but during major rains they unite to become one raging stream moving rocks and sediment down river from the mountains.

We arrived at our Wilderness Lodge located off the road a few hundred yards back in a heavy beech forest and just in time for a 5PM Christmas Eve farm trek to view the sheep dogs working a flock followed by a trip to the shearing station for a demonstration of hand shearing of a Merino sheep. On this Christmas eve we had everything at hand to make our own Nativity creche!





The Lodge has 20 rooms and and the owners have built trails throughout the surrounding forest fully marked for self guided treks with guides to plants and formations. The lodge is very rustic with a large gathering room and full dining room. They encourage group dining so we met some entertaining English and Danish folks also there for Christmas.

Hereis Ms. Merino with a new outfit for Christmas Eve!

Glacier tromping

We opted for a helicopter ride up to Fox Glacier and a flyby in front of the face of Mt. Cook the highest mountain on the South Island at 12,500 or so. It rises up from the Tasman Sea with lush rain forests at the sea coast and a full bore glacier ending only another 1000 feet or so above sea level. This is the spot where one can most observe the odd combo of rain forest and glacier within a 30 minute hike. The heli ride was awesome as one might expect. There were several in the air simultaneously flying a prescribed pattern and in radio contact. It is only sunny on occasion and in the morning so there is a mad scramble to get the flights in during any window. The neve' is the area high on the glacier (approx 8000') where the snowfall accumulates and forms the glacier due to snow pressure and that is where we land to walk about. They actually had marked parking posts for the helis! It looked like about 6 spots available.






Following the heli ride we went hiking along the sea coast on the Tasman along Gillespie Beach and then into the rain forest which starts at the beach edge about 50 meters in. This West Coast area was the scene of several great gold rushes in the mid 1800's so there are numerous ghost towns just in from the coast on the glacial rivers.



The photos attached show rain forest and glaciers coverng the Fox and Franz Joseph which are the two main active towns with tourist amenities...small at they are. Our hotel the Te Weheka was very well done with a great host. Overall it was remeniscent of our visits to Alaska.

Footprints on the Coast

We met our Canterbury Trails guide/driver for our trip from Queenstown up the West Coast of the South Island. We will be with him for 5 days covering the Glacier region, Arthurs Pass National Park and on to Christchurch. Brian the guide drives a 4WD Toyoto Van which is well outfitted with an intercom, a trailer for luggage and plenty of provisions for a spot of tea or lunch in the bush. He is totally knowledgeable in Maori culture, geology, flora and fauna and the history of NZ. We will stop repeatedly for observation, hikes, tea, waterfalls and even a spot of shopping.

Our first days' destination is the Glacier country which includes Fox Glacier where we will stay at the Te Weheka Inn in Fox Valley. There are 3035 charted glaciers in the South Island and another 28 on the North Island but we will explore only 2: the Fox and Franz Joesph(named for the Austrian emperor by Haast an Austrian explorer). The Glaciers in NZ result from the steady moisture flow from Antarctica and over the Tasman Sea which turns promptly to rain and snow when it hits the Coastal NZ Alps. The South Island is one of two places in the world where one encounters dense rain forests and within a 10 minute walk one can be at the terminal end of a glacier which extends miles up the mountain side. The other is Chile but this is the only island location in the world with such spectacular incongruities.

I will include some photos in this edition of the drive up via Lake Wanaka (where we had lakeside tea), over Haas Pass through miles of spectacular water falls and wild flowers and on to Fox Glacier where we stayed for two nights...a trip of only 180 miles but it required 9 hours to take it all in... plus a stop or two for farmers repositioning their cattle via our road.