A lovely quiet night in the DOC campsite, except for the whining of mosquitos and sandfly. A quick breakfast and back into town for our guided walk up to the glacier. There were two other couples and a loner, one couple from Phoenix Arizona, and the other couple from up North, and the lone female escaping the nerve agent in Salisbury. The benefit of the guided walk are the explanations of the flora, fauna, geology and history. The guide also takes you through areas which are generally cordoned off from others, so we had a lovely walk through NZ rain forest to start with, and then a demanding walk up through rugged rocks.
Unfortunately, the base of the glacier has been safely unreachable for many years now, waiting for the glacier to start to extend again in the wetter years. We made it to a viewing point where there was a good view of the glacier, the melt water and a waterfall in the distance. A cup of tea, and then back down again.
Back in Franz Josef we had a beer and then head on South. First crossed the temporary Baily bridge. Temporary; it’s been there since 1995! A slight detour to see the Fox Glacier. Many of the walks to Glacier have been closed for the last couple of months because of a mudslide. Today they were hoping to reopen some of them. We just wanted to view the glacier from a distance and photograph it and a helicopter for a size comparison. Success.
On the road again, nice fast driving with slow vehicles pulling over to let you go by, except for the cretins driving Maui motorhomes who keep on and on regardless of the queue behind them. Yes, I am afraid it is always Maui!
We stopped at a very nice DOC campsite at Lake Paringa, but the boss wanted a shower, so on we went to Haast. The first Haast River Motels and Holiday Parks looked rather dire with no green (grass) parking, so on to Haast Lodge Backpackers and Motor Park. This was even more dire. So back to the first site and booked an unpowered site. We were directed to a rather nice green area to park on, complete with bench and table.
The convoy celebrating the anniversary of armistice were there too. We must find out when they intend to leave, otherwise we will be stuck behind them all the way over the pass.
