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Published: April 26th 2011
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On the way to Haast you go across Haast pass, there are lots of little walks to waterfalls so we decided we would try to walk to them all. First up was the blue pools. These had been marketed as being crystal clear and so blue that you could see trout suspended in the middle of them. However, due to the exceptionally high rainfall over night the pools were more a murky grey than any kind of blue!! After that we headed on to Fantail falls these were just off the side of the road and used to be used to help turn a waterwheel I believe. Next on the list was thunder creek falls. At the time we got here so did a bus full of American tourists so we had to try to avoid them when taking the photographs!! Luckily we were heading in the opposite direction to the bus so didn’t encounter them on the next one! So far all the walks had only been about 10 minutes either way in order to get to the falls. The last one - to roaring billy- was a bit longer at about an hour return. It was through a lovely
forest which felt like you were walking through an enchanted wood and that a pixie or fairy was about to fly out from the trees!!
When we arrived in Haast it wasn’t the type of town we were expecting!! It wasn’t really anything more than a township - which consists of a few houses, a garage, small corner store and a café! So we filled up with diesel and headed towards the Fox Glacier. As we had done quite a few stops during the drive it was getting on in the afternoon. So we decided to stop at a proper site in Fox Glacier as we needed a shower and the icepacks needed freezing again after being in DOC sites for the last few nights!
The following morning we decided to go around Lake Matheson which is said to have some of the best views of Mount Cook and great reflections in the lake on a clear day. We then planned to walk to the Fox Glacier before stopping overnight at Franz Josef. Unfortunately it wasn’t a very clear day but the reflections weren’t too bad in the Lake, and the views were great when you could see
them! The walk around Lake Matheson may be around it but isn’t actually next to it so you only see the lake at set viewpoints. The walk was meant to take us about 1 ½ hours but we managed it in an hour. We then headed on to Fox Glacier. We had checked that we could get down to the start of the walk as it is an access road and is gravel track so always worth checking after our experience back at the Operara Basin!! We got down there and it was really strange as you are driving right down into the valley and on a raised path next to the river. We set off on the walk and soon found us boulder hopping across the first river crossing. It was running quite quick but Mark still managed to stop half way to pick up a piece of ice out of the water!! After a few more water crossings and a couple of hills we reached as far as we could go- which was about 300m away from the terminal face of the glacier. The rush of the water was really load as it came through the cave in
the centre of the glacier. On the way back to the van we reached the last and biggest of the water crossings. Along with a few of the other walkers on the rack tried to find the way we’d come across - but it didn’t exist anymore!! The river had changed its direction and managed to punch a hole in the normal stone crossing!! Mark managed to bounce his way across on some fairly wide apart rocks but I didn’t feel brave enough to do that one, so instead opted to go back across the original one and get my foot a bit wet as one of the stones was under water! When we got back to the start the DOC had actually shut the walk because of the change in the river and the now ‘dangerous’ crossing. Some people were getting really annoyed with the ranger because it was shut and no one could say when it was going to be back open again. Mother nature will do what it wants and you can’t change that!!
After a quick cheese sandwich lunch stop we headed on to Franz Josef Glacier. As it was still early we decided to
do the Franz Josef Glacier walk as well!! On this walk you head down straight into the valley and can see where the river can rage to but can’t really see the river as its down in an additional ditch at the side of the valley. The first thing you come across though is some lovely waterfalls. There are 3 waterfalls together that just looked fantastic. You can see the glacier from the moment you get down into the valley and it never really seems to get much closer until you are right up on it. We got closer to this one - about 100m away from the terminal face and you can see the ice cave and the river run through it.
We couldn’t really decide which glacier was better, the walk to Fox Glacier was more interesting due to the water crossings but you could get closer to Franz Josef - so still a debate on that one!!
After all the walks we’d done (about 3 ½ hours in total) we are now on the search for a cheap place to stay, so we are heading to the nearest DOC site which was just outside Hokitika.
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