The last drops from last night's downpour were fading away when we woke and by the time we stepped outside, the clouds had begun to break up and lift.
We were journeying to towards the town of Wanaka, some few hundred kilometres away to the south east. The journey took us past the famous glaciers of Franz Joseph and Fox, so we thought we ought call in and take in the views.
Without taking an expensive helicopter ride upto the glaciers, there wasn't really much to hold us at either place. I'd have liked to have made an ascent of "Knob Peak" (purely for good logbook purposes - first ascended by A Knob! 'Snigger snigger'). But having enquired at the Info Centre, was told that it would be very dangerous and that I could slip on the wet path and break either, or even both of my ankles! After various other cautionary perilous tales, we managed to get a word in and ask about any actual factual info she might about paths being washed away in last night's floods. There had been a lot of rain and some paths were closed to landslides.
We were actually content to do a short loop trail that took in a few of the sights. Having been lucky enough to spend a decent amount of time in amongst glacial terrain over the years, we decided that an hour and a half hike with a hundred other people upto the glaciers snout (actually a viewing place 250m from the actual ice!) probably wasn't for us and enjoyed a quiet lower trail instead. It came out at a huge swing bridge, below which the grey glacial waters surged past.
Over by Fox glacier, the same principles applied to those wishing to view the ice. We took a walk through some forest then around Matherson Lake, from lower in the valley and got a few good views of the mountain panorama.
Then it was back on the road! So straight and virtually no traffic all day! Not normally a big fan of driving, but some of the views today from the road have been jaw dropping! The kilometres just slipped on by as we watched the ever changing scenery.
Eventually we popped out of the mountains and dropped right down by the coast. There were no ice cream vans or cafes (or any sign of life for that matter) but I could still enjoy some refreshing ginger beer! (Ice cold from our fridge!).
There were waves, but it was blowing a gale across shore, so we took in the views then pressed on.
We crossed over so many bridges! Each valley had a huge braided river that was making its way out to the sea from some glacier up in the mountains. One bridge must have been at least a kilometre long!
Later we found ourselves high up on some cliff tops looking down at some very remote beaches. There was a lookout point that had been built at 'Knights Point' but it was closed as there were cracks in the tarmac as it had started slipping off the cliff edge!
More rivers to cross...
More bridges to negotiate...
More views to see...
And then finally somewhere to stop and camp. And what a view!
How lucky to be able to climb in the back and enjoy the views from the comfort of the sofa!
We are perched up on a look out above an area called the Cameron Flats. It's a huge, wide valley, with the snowy peak of Mt Brewster at its head. It really is a stunning spot, especially as the full moon is just rising over the mountains.
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