Finally, I pushed myself to carry on with our last trip diaries here. It’s more to do with being lazy during the holiday season rather than being busy. Let’s get back to the road trip in New Zealand South Island. In the last post, we continued driving south on the west coast and here we’ll see where the road takes us next.
First stop, Franz Josef Glacier:
After getting to the Franz Josef town just before the sunset and not being able to find a proper campsite, we just drove out of town to camp by a lake we saw just before the town. It wasn’t just about finding the right campsite, touristic towns bother us from time to time and Franz Josef was one of them. The DOC camp site was quiet with a nice sunset view over the lake and unfortunately lots of sandflies so we had to lock ourselves in the van for the rest of the evening. The weather forecast for the next day wasn’t great and we weren’t sure if we can see the glacier or not.
The next morning we woke up in a thick fog and couldn’t see even the toilet few meter from our camp spot and it was clear enough that we won’t be able to see anything. But glacier track was on our way south anyway so we decided to make a quick detour to go and have a look. Around 8:00 in the morning, on the road heading to the glacier, it was only us following the DOC rangers car driving toward glacier. The windy road through the valley heading toward the Franz Josef glacier was foggy and wet, yet stunning and breathtaking.
The glacier walk will take between 2-3 hours and we allowed the whole morning for the walk. From the carpark, the view wasn’t promising but we started the track anyway. I didn’t expect the walk to start in the thick lush green native forest but the beginning of the track was well paved through the native forest with the sound of waterfalls, springs and chirping birds in the background.
After a short walk, maybe 20 minutes, we got to the glacier view point and the weather started to clear up just above the glacier and created a perfect light to watch and admire the glacier. Most of other glaciers that we’ve met so far in the rest of the world, required a long trek through harsh environments to reach. This is probably one of the main reasons of the popularity of the Franz Josef glacier. Within few minutes easy walk from the car park, you can witness the force of the nature with no hassle and no need for mountaineering gears. The efforts of DOC and NZ tourism shouldn’t be underestimated though.
A best but expensive way to witness the glacier beauty is with a helicopter. They land on the glacier and give you a chance to explore it first hand with a guide. After visiting the glacier and feeling the speed that it’s disappearing from the face of the earth, we will come back soon to feel and touch it up close and personal before it’s too late.
As you can see above, this is how much this particular glacier shrunk in just over a century. A sad truth about how destructive our lifestyle is and how much we are losing just because of that. It’s too panful to watch but necessary at the same time.
From this view point, the rest of the track is going through the river basin toward the glacier but unfortunately during our visit, the rest of the track was closed due to rock falls somewhere along the way and our journey to the glacier just ended here.
Heading to Jackson Bay:
Finishing off early at Franz Josef glacier due to the track closure and skipping Fox glacier due to low visibility, we had enough time to head further south on the west coast and a detour to have lunch before driving inland. State highway 6 on the west cost, turns inland at a small place called Haast and goes through the southern Alpes via Haast pass toward Wanaka. Driving south on SH6, there’s an option to drive straight south and follow the coast line instead of driving inland at Haast. Where this road takes you? Actually nowhere in particular. It goes through a small community at Jackson bay and then carrying on further south, there is a gem called Cray Pot.
We heard about it before we go on this trip but we weren’t sure if we can be around the area for lunch. Due to the change in the plans, it became an obvious choice for the day and we are glad that we did it. It’s just a tiny local fish and chips shop located at a bay in the middle of nowhere but at the same time, it’s quite unique. It was packed when we got there around 14:00. Amir had the last crayfish of the day and I tried the fish of the day, both were really good. But most of all, the staff and the vibe was the best.
The Blue Pools:
After a fulfilling lunch, it was time to get back to the main road toward the Haast pass. Going through the southern Alpes, the first thing that catches the eyes is the turquoise crystal clear water flowing through the valleys. There are few spots along the way to stop and admire the water falls and the rivers but the most gorgeous spot is just half an hour before Wanaka and is called the Blue pools.
We didn’t expect to find a nice camping side just by the Blue pools but we actually did. There’s a DOC camp side just on opposite side of the road from the Blue Pools public car park. Apart from the sandflies rush which are almost impossible to avoid in summer time in New Zealand, the camp site was a perfect spot to camp and visit the Blue pools later in the evening or first thing in the morning.
Early in the morning, the plan was going for a swim in the Blue pools. There’s a an hour walk from the car park to the pools. Water temperature is well, refreshing I can say. Definitely you have to have the guts to go for a swim early in the morning without the sun right up in the sky. I could only dip in for few seconds but Amir did manage to swim for a while.
Wanaka and Lake Hawea:
One of the luxuries of living in a campervan is how convenient it is to change after a swim in a car. That’s what we’ve done after returning from the blue pools and carried on toward Wanaka. Before getting to Wanaka, you get surrounded by amazing lakes and spring wild flowers . We’ve been to Wanaka before and even though the vibe is much better than Queenstown, but it’s still too touristic with not much that we were looking after except the supermarket. After a quick shopping we headed to lake Hawea, another lake close to Wanaka to have a look.
While Wanaka wasn’t as busy as always due to the borders closures but it was still busy with local tourists in November and extremely windy. We soon realized that going to lake Hawea was a great choice comparing to hanging around at Wanaka for lunch when we actually got there and saw the view.
Lake Hawea is a great spot close to Wanaka if you prefers more quiet campsites and a whole beach for yourself. We’ve spent the whole afternoon there and could definitely camp around the lake somewhere but we had to go toward Te Anau the next morning so we decided to camp somewhere on the way to Queenstown.
There’s a free camp site next to Kawarau river on the way to Queenstown which is next to a river bike trail as well and is a perfect spot to camp somewhere quiet between Wanaka and Queenstown, if you like to skip the big towns and holiday parks like us. The other great point about this camp site was the wild flowers around it and by the river which makes it another great free campsite on our road trip.
Ok, let’s park the road trip here in this yellow wild flowers camp site and carry on to visit one of our best experiences of our trip in the next post. Till then take care.
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