Journey to the West Coast....

Thursday 18th November. A short journey planned today to Wanaka, so our first detour was to look at the old gold town of Naseby which has a world class curling venue, a few gift shops, a cafe and not much else, but the drive was pleasant. We then headed out through Wedderburn, criss-crossing the rail trail and diverting to Saint Bathans, a historic centre (along with so many others) of the gold mining days. The hill at Saint Bathans has been almost totally destroyed by the gold mining as the rock was dug away, washed and searched. Where the hill was is now the ‘blue lake’ which is rich in minerals and hence is why it is blue.... only it was more of a murky grey! The remaining rock formations formed by a combination of Teutonic plate movement, the gold mining, and subsequent erosion is quite spectacular as can be seen below.





We then regained route 85 and continued to Alexandra, a large town by NZ standards but not of great note. It was then on to route 8 with a stop for lunch at the Clyde Dam (see earlier post – we’d been here before!) and across to Cromwell where we headed up the east side of Lake Dunstan while the signposted route (and most of the traffic) headed up the west side. We took a little short-cut along an unsealed road avoiding Tarras but instead encountering a single lane rather interesting bridge which had the original wooden slats showing through the tarmac in places....

We then turned west for Wanaka, our destination. We booked into our campsite and then returned to the town for a wander round and a walk by Lake Wanaka. We then took a drive along the Mount Aspiring Road passing Roys Peak and visiting Glendhu Bay, Homestead Bay, and then took a walk up to the Diamond Lake where there were more intriguing rock formations created by the glaciers.

We then returned to the campsite and booked a flight over Mount Cook and the glaciers for tomorrow, though there is a risk it may not happen due to cloud. We’ll get another chance once we’re on the west coast, but it is very weather dependant. In the evening we were joined by a sparrow who briefly hopped into the van and then later we had a family of Californian Quail feeding outside.

Friday – Grounded! The intended flight was not happening as the tops of the mountains were in cloud, and it was getting worse rather than better. An alternative flight was possibly going ahead but as that was twice the cost we opted to move on and try again from the West Coast.

We headed north out of Wanaka through Albert Town and along the shores of Lake Hawea on Highway 6. The road then kinked to switch to the shores of Lake Wanaka, all the time giving views of Mount Aspiring National Park, heavily obscured by cloud. As we progressed via the Haast Pass, Fantail Falls and passing through the impressive Haast Gate, a rocky part of the river with vast amounts of water rushing through the rocks, we needed the windscreen wipers on ‘continuous’ for the first time since leaving the UK, as we drove through the low cloud.

The road then turned west along the Haast River with Mount Aspiring on one side and the Southern Alps to the other, still shrouded in cloud.

We arrived at Haast, where there is not much beyond a few eateries and a petrol station (needed, and rather dearer than on the east coast). After a bite of lunch near the beach we picked up the West Coast road which dips in and out to the coast and back as it heads north, giving very different scenery to the east coast – lush green, almost ‘tropical rain forest’ style due to the plentiful rainfall, interspersed with sandy and rocky beaches.

Along this road we found a pull off at Lake Paringa for a brew. We sat drinking tea overlooking the lake and watching a Grebe fishing. Noting that there was some sort of struggle going on, the binoculars came out enabling us to see that he had caught a good size eel and was struggling to get it lined up for digestion! A quick flick with his head and suddenly the eel disappeared down his gullet! Our viewing was interrupted by the return of about half a dozen jet-boats which appeared to be ending a ‘boy’s day out’ type jolly! The Grebe soon scarpered....


As it was not a day for walks we pressed on to the Fox Glacier, spotting the rather small sign to the terminal ice face. The rain had almost stopped by now so we completed the journey to the face on foot, crossing glacier melt streams via stepping stones (this was the ‘official’ route!) and climbing to the end point of the walk after which you must have a guide if you are to go onto the ice itself to the unstable state of the area. The sheer size of the glacier is only really evident when you note the size of people walking on it.

On the return walk the rain got going again so it was a quick dry off at the van and then off to find the campsite that Heather had identified – 20km down a single-lane, unsealed, twisty track at Gillespies Beach with just a tap and a loo.... surprising how many others were also there! Hopefully it will top raining by the morning so that we can go for a beach walk!