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Published: December 28th 2010
We set off for the Haast Pass with the route following the shores of Lakes Wanaka and Hawea to Makaroa a small wilderness town. Haast Pass is 563m above sea-level and is the lowest crossing point over the Southern Alps. There are only three passes that take you over to the west coast so you are restricted to these if you want to visit the west, Haast, Arthur’s and the Lewis Pass. Haast Pass was originally a Maori greenstone (jade) trading route and is spectacular with diverse scenery travelling through river valleys, temperate rain forest, beech forest and high country grasslands. On the way we stopped at the DOC visitor centre to pick up details of walks on the route and decided to do a short nature walk from the visitor centre before we continued into Mount Aspiring National Park. We stopped later at another short walk to the Blue Pools located a short way over a swing bridge where we had a 30 minute walk through pristine native beech forest to the pools. The pools were as expected extremely blue and clear and you could view them from another swing bridge which crossed over them. We continued into the bush
to see the rare Mohua a small, insect eating bird which lives only in the forests of New Zealand’s South Island and Stewart Island. A beautiful splash of bright yellow covers its head and breast while the rest of the body is brown with varying tinges of yellow and olive. The female is slightly less brightly coloured than the male. However we were unlucky and did not see any but sat and had a pleasant lunch on the riverbank. We continued on descending into Mount Aspiring National Park and towards Haast Pass, crashing rivers and waterfalls were around every corner and we stopped at several of these for short walks including the Fantail Falls where we had to cross a dry river bed before crossing the river to get up close to falls themselves and then continued on for a short walk at Thunder Creek Falls. We then crossed the Gates of Haast, a bridge high over the river of the same name. Finally we arrived on the West Coast which is the start of a 600 kilometre stretch of bush, rainforest and podocarp forest. Podocarp forests are a mixture of tall podocarps and smaller trees (hardwoods) with an understorey
of shrubs, plants and ferns. Light-loving podocarps reach for the forest canopy, while shade tolerant species thrive in the darker lower levels. Soil and climate conditions play a major role in determining which species will be the most dominant in a forest. In Southland, tōtara grows closest to the coast, on almost pure sand. As the soil nutrient levels increase, mataï will grow. With more nutrients rimu and miro will come into the forest. On the wetter sites kahikatea grows best. Although they belong to the conifer family, which reproduces using cones, podocarps spread their seeds through berries which are transported by being passed through birds. Because of the abundant range of fruits, podocarp forests also support larger communities of insects and birds such as the bellbird, tūī, kākā and kea. The settlement of Haast was once a construction camp for the Ministry of Works but it is now a small town with a touch of the wild west – helicopters fly deer hunters into the rugged ranges and local pubs make a feature of stuffed animal trophies. The town is a little confusing because firstly there is Haast Junction, further down the road is Haast Beach and then lastly
you have Haast Township. We stopped at a small motor camp overnight before continuing our journey stopping at Bruce Bay with a magnificent rimu forest surrounding it although only a small settlement remains here now after the gold rush left town many years ago. We walked along the beach for a while where people had left messages on the driftwood washed up on the beach as well as names and dates of visits written on the silver and white sea rounded pebbles which covered the beach. A little further on we arrived at Lake Moeraki, a peaceful forest lake with good fishing of salmon/trout and a short distance on Lake Paringa where we stopped at a salmon farm for coffee and cake and purchased some fresh salmon to barbecue when we arrived at Fox Glacier our next stop. As well as good fishing of both trout and salmon the rivers that flow out of the lake also have an abundance of the NZ delicacy, whitebait. We arrived at Fox Glacier a small township more like a village, tucked away into the rainforest-clad foothills of the Southern Alps. The west coast Glaciers are unusual because whilst many Glaciers worldwide have been
retreating, the Fox and Franz Josef still flow almost to sea level. Before visiting the Glacier we decided to walk to Lake Matheson from the campsite which on the leaflet said was just down the road, 45 minutes later down a straight road we turned back and decided to drive instead! Lake Matheson is the result of glaciations, formed about 14,000 years ago when Fox Glacier retreated from the valley. The lake is filled with long finned eels and visited by many birds and its ale coloured waters are incredibly still. Before the arrival of Europeans, it was a traditional Maori mahinga kai (food gathering place). Today Lake Matheson is famous for the enchanting reflections of both Aoraki (Mount Cook) and Mount Tasman, NZ’s highest peaks. An hour long walk encircles the lake starting at the car park and crossing the Clearwater River suspension bridge passing ancient native forest, mainly rimu and kahikatea trees. At the far end of the lake the broad walk crosses over some reed beds and through fern gullies to the famous reflections viewpoint on the north side. Many famous artists have sat here to capture the stunning view and this is the view you will
see on lots of NZ calendar etc. Today however both the mountains were covered in cloud but we did manage to get some good photographs of the trees at the edge of the lake and thought we would come back again later if the cloud cleared. We stopped at the lakeside café and had delicious white chocolate cake and flat white coffee. Later on back at our campsite the cloud cleared but we had both had a couple of drinks by then so could not drive back. We did however get some good shots of both the Cook and Tasman Mountains from the campsite as we watched three parrots, the too friendly Kākā annoying a local by playing on the top of his car. So at last here we are in Glacier country and we set off for our first sight of a Glacier which we have waited a long time to see. In this area an astonishing 49 feet of snow is dumped annually at high altitudes which gives rise to about 140 Glaciers. Of these, only two, Fox Glacier and Franz Josef Glacier penetrate the lower forest. You can drive 8km south of the village to the glacier
car park and then walk to the recommended viewing points that move according to weather and river conditions so you need to check with DOC before undertaking any walk and heed any directives. We parked the motorhome and undertook the Fox Glacier Valley Walk which is a one hour return walk up the riverbed to the terminal face of the Glacier. Few words can describe our first view of Fox Glacier; it was like giant cascades of solid ice tumbling down to the rainforest below – a river of solid ice. At 13km long it is the longest Glacier in the Westland National Park and it comes closer to sea level than any other Glacier in the world. At the bottom of the blue, white and grey sides was the ever flowing water from the terminal face undulating from the Glacier and forming a river that flowed away down the valley. We thought we knew quite a lot about Glaciers from our geography lessons at school (many years ago now) but have gained a lot more knowledge since arriving here, hope you don’t get too bored with the detail but we wanted to keep a record for ourselves. The glaciers
stunning development is partly because the South Westland lies in the path of a band of wind known as the ‘roaring forties’. The weather that flows onto the West Coast is forced to rise over the Southern Alps, thereby cooling and dropping most of its moisture as rain and snow. This process causes approximately 30 metres of snow to fall on the neve, or catchment area of the Glacier every year. The snow crystals fuse to form blue clear ice at a depth of about 20m. The pressure of the ice pushing down the valley from the steep sides of the Glacier mean the ice can travel a long way before its melts. The rate of descent is staggering, wreckage from a plane that crashed on near by Franz Josef in 1943, 3.5 km from the terminal face, made it down to the bottom 6½ years later – a speed of 1.5m a day, over 10 times faster than Glaciers in the Swiss Alps, but it usually advances at about 1m per day. Our next walk was the Fox River Walk and we were going to join this up with the Chalet Hut Walk about 2- 3hours in total. We
parked up and proceeded into the bush crossing the Fox River bridge and then the path climbed steeply (very steeply) and continued to climb and climb it did not level off very much at all we crossed many rock strewn streams and continued higher and higher into the mountain side until we came out onto a viewing platform with the most amazing views of the Glacier below. A little further along was the remains of a chalet where in the 1930 visitors used to be able to access the Glacier which now was so far away, really strange. In fact as you travelled up to the Glacier there were signs detailing the year the Glacier was in this location. We finally made our way back to the car park quite exhausted it had been more of a climb than a walk but still delightful and enabled us to enjoy a few more drinks that evening!. The next day we decided we would do the Gillespies Beach Walk a 3½ hours return walk where up to 1500 seals can congregate during the winter. You had to drive along a 12km unsealed road until you reached a small bridge then drive on
to a car park about 1km further on. Apart from being very bumpy the road was extremely narrow in places dropping off on the sides steeply but we did not meet much traffic in fact only one car as we made our way down which was just as well! We parked up and set off on the walk which started off going through low bush which eventually came out into a deserted miner’s site with rusting machinery left over from the gold rush days. The track then continued on to Gillespie Beach which was covered in huge driftwood and debris - very desolate indeed. We continued along the beach for a while and then saw some seals scratching themselves on the rocks. We stopped and watched them for a while before turning inland and following a large lagoon where we saw and heard many birds all was so peaceful. We followed the edge of the lagoon until we came to a bridge broadwalk which took us across to an island and then continued on the other side of the island to another bridge; part of this was missing so we had to jump to get to the other side to
continue the walk. We reached an old miners tunnel that linked the rainforest to the sea at the bottom of the cliff face and then the track turned inland again travelling through the tall rainforest. This track went on and on for over an hour and we did think of turning back but continued as we hoped to see more seals at the end. We had not seen anyone all the time we had been on the walk it was an extremely desolate area. We started to think that we were the only ones in the area for miles and probably were – quite surreal. The track was blocked by fallen trees in many places and we had to make detours to get back on the right route but we continued (I kept thinking of the series ‘alive’!). Finally we arrived at Galway Point and climbed down to the the beach but there was not a seal in sight - a deserted beach covered in driftwood and boulders. We sat down on a log to have a picnic lunch but within minutes were attacked by the dreaded ‘sandfly’, and had to eat quickly whilst walking fast up and down the beach – quite an amusing sight if there was anyone to watch us that is! We thought it would probably be best to return as it was a long way back to civilisation so set off on the journey back and just then the rain started to come down with quite a force. We got quite wet on our return walk, but finally arrived back on Gillespie Beach. We noticed a huge flock of birds feeding in the sea and then we noticed a few dolphins swimming in the surf so watched them for a while getting much wetter (in for a penny) before we headed back to the comfort of the motorhome - what bliss to able to change out of our wet things, it is quite handy having all ones belongings to hand. Believe it or not my entire wardrobe consists of an overhanging cupboard about 2ft x 1ft, whatever will I do when I get home all the space I used to have seems very weird! We headed back to our campsite stopping at a small miner’s cemetery on the beach before returning along the unsealed road; again we only passed one car. The rain was really coming down in torrents now and it rained all through the night.. It does usually rain a lot in this area but there had been a drought for a couple of months but this seemed to have changed overnight. In the morning we decided to move on to Franz Josef, this is only a short way from Fox but its quite a windy steep road together with lots of road repairs from the winter ravishing, so it took a lot longer that we had anticipated. It is quite amazing the time you have to allow for the road conditions and bends you probably need to add on about double what you would expect on these NZ roads. When we arrived at Franz Josef we called into the local joint DOC and I-Site office to check on the weather conditions and it was not looking good for the next couple of days although there was going to be a brief lull in the afternoon so we decided to drive to the car park and walk to the Glacier terminal face. Lucky we had left Fox Glacier as the walks we did were closed today because of the weather conditions. We decided on the Ka Roimate o Hine Hukatere Valley walk which was about 90 minutes along the valley floor. This walk followed the Waiho River bed to a view point of the Glacier terminal and we again were lucky that it was open as it can sometimes be closed due to safety reasons as was Fox Glacier today. We still had to ensure that we followed the signs and notices particularly due to the huge rainfall over the last few days. As we approached we could see the difference in the Glaciers although we were delighted with Fox Glacier this one was very different, you were able to get closer for a start and you faced the Glacier straight on which was truly amazing.. The overnight rain had turned the river into torrents and it was gushing out of the terminal face with a huge force, massive rocks of ice were being thrown down the river one after the other just like small pebbles on a beach. Rain melts the ice quicker than sunshine so it had made a huge difference to the river flow from a few days ago. Following the walk we headed into the township of Franz Josef and booked into the Rainforest Holiday Park a lovely site set amongst the rainforest and we settled in for a few days hoping that the weather would clear so that we could undertake a few more walks. The next morning we were going to spend a day doing ‘admin’ but the weather cleared so we decided to undertake a couple of walks, the first one was the Sentinel Rock Walk an easy climb for spectacular view of the face of the Glacier through dense forest. On our return we decided to undertake the Douglas Walk (glutton for punishment even though the ribs still hurt from my fall) a 2 hour bushwalk to Peters Pool. What a lovely walk this was to the pool where reflective views of the glacier and mountain in the lake were really impressive, we were lucky that the water was still but it was still quite overcast. Swallows were swooping down from the bush on the edge of the lake and dragonflies were everywhere. We spent a while trying to get the ‘ideal’ photo shot but the conditions were not ideal (see what you think from the photo) and we are not experts - probably need to get ourselves on a course once we decide to settle down that is!! We continued the walk arriving at Douglas Bridge and then continued through the rainforest for a while before coming out on the road and return via the Glacier road to the car park. We then headed back to Franz Josef stopping at the river bridge and then looked at the two churches that stood opposite each other on the entrance to the township. The Catholic Church of Our Lady of the Alps backed on to the rainforest with a lovely walk along the river just down the road. St James Anglican Church has a great history illustrating Franz Josef’s glacier activity. The church was built in 1931 with a terrific panoramic window over the altar opening to the glacier. NZ issued a postage stamp featuring this view in 1946. By 1954, however, the glacier was no longer viewable from the window due to the glacier’s retreat. It began to advance again in 1984 and by 1997 had advanced enough to give a good view again to church members. Like the Fox Glacier it is advancing at a very fast rate compared with others around the world. We spent some time wandering around the church and taking photographs from the altar window. In the afternoon the weather brightened slightly and we walked into town to see what the situation was with regards to a Heli Hike on the Glacier. The weather was not looking good but we did manage to book a flight to see both Glaciers with a walk at the top of the Glacier ridge of Franz Josef. What a wonderful vista, the Glaciers are so different viewed from above and as we climbed up the Franz Josef it was truly amazing view, huge crevices of white and blue ice so hard to describe. The helicopter climbed up Franz Josef before landing right at the top the Glacier where we got out in the snow and the views were truly wonderful. The weather however was not and the pilot indicated that we needed to get back on board after a short hike on the Glacier. We climbed back in and as we did so did the cloud, but the pilot rose quickly above and then travelled over the peaks to nearby Fox Glacier where the cloud was not quite so bad. The views of the Fox Glacier were equally as good and had an abundance of small blue lakes in amongst the Glacier itself – amazing. We headed back down the Glacier and over both Fox and Franz villages before a smooth landing a few yards away from the village centre. That evening we decided we would eat in the campsite restaurant called Monsoon which was only a short walk. We had a lovely evening chatting to a group of five local lads and an American who had been out canoeing in the bush for a few days. We had a drink in the bar before we had a meal and Paul had a ‘jug’ of beer the cheapest he had found in NZ so far and also in his words ‘not bad, but still not like at home’. I also had the cheapest glass of wine so far – maybe it was more than one glass though…..Just as we headed back to our motorhome the heavens opened and we had to dash through the rainforest and yes we did get quite wet but that’s what one should expect in the middle of a rainforest!! The rain did not ease all night so in the morning we decided to move on to try and get away from the rain for a while which seemed to have settled over the area. We truly loved this part of the South Island, even with all the rain and would be a place high for us to return to one day………
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Beautiful Post
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