The South Island—Fox Glacier to Haast, February 21-22, 2025

Fox Glacier to Haast, February 21-22, 2025

It rained buckets last night, but by 9AM, we had sunny skies with a few clouds. The air was fresh and clear, and after breakfast, we returned to the Tohu Whenua viewpoint that opened in 2024. It provides direct views of Fox Glacier, Mt. Tasman (11,473 ft/3,497m), and Mt. Cook (12,218 ft/3,724m). From this viewpoint Mt. Tasman is the most prominent peak. I expect we'll see more impressive views of Mt. Cook from Lake Tekapo.

When I planned this trip from half a world away, I was concerned about driving long distances over winding mountain roadways. But I also wanted to make sure we had time to enjoy this UNESCO World Heritage region of outstanding natural beauty. That's why I reserved two nights in Fox Glacier and two nights in Haast. 

On our drive out of Fox Glacier, we took our time to take some pictures and videos at roadside turnouts. One of the best was Knights Point. Within minutes after our view and bathroom break there, we were stopped by a road crew while they did some pretty spectacular cliff clean up. We spent about 25 minutes watching harnessed road crew members break boulders away from a cliff face overlooking the World Heritage Highway. 

I also included a video of Ship Creek Beach on the Tasman Sea. And you won't believe the video Marie took as we crossed the Haast River. This bridge is famous for being the longest single-lane bridge in the southern hemisphere. After the crossing, we pulled into the Department of Conservation Visitor Centre as planned, and it's a good thing we did, because our hotel was about 100 meters away. 

Before leaving Fox Glacier I entered the address of The Heartland Hotel into Google Maps (my usual routine), but didn't bother opening the app, knowing we had at least a 1hr30min drive to Haast. If I hadn't planned on stopping at the visitor centre, we could have easily driven beyond the turn off to our hotel and driven on to Haast Township only to find our hotel was about a 100 meters from where we were standing inside the visitor centre.

That was the good news. The disappointing news was that the Blue Pools Walk is closed, because the two suspension bridges leading to these azure blue pools are being refurbished. When I made our hotel reservation for two nights here six months ago there wasn't any way of knowing this walk would be closed. The ranger at the Dept. of Conservation Visitor Centre told us that if we felt comfortable fording the Haast River and continuing on along the trail, we could make it to the pools. She did warn, however, that the river could be tricky but that crossing it was possible. We decided to forgo this walk.

So here are the pictures from our leisurely drive today beginning with some last looks from Fox Glacier.

Taken from our Sunset Motel room in Fox Glacier.

Fox Glacier and Mt. Tasman from Tohu Whenua viewpoint.

  Another close up of Mt. Tasman.

Fox Glacier from Tohu Whenua viewpoint.

Mt. Tasman Tohu Whenua viewpoint.

An hour after leaving Fox Glacier, we pulled into Knights Point rest stop for some pretty decent views.

Click to enlarge to read.

Road crew working the cliff face.

Ships Creek Beach.

 

The longest single-lane bridge in the Southern Hemisphere.

Haast, February 22, 2025

The South Westland is part of the UNESCO World Heritage area of outstanding natural beauty. I had hopes of walking to the Blue Pools, but as I said above the walk is closed so today we will take in a different section of the World Heritage area and drive to the fishing village at Jackson Bay. 

This sheltered bay is known for having more seals and penguins than people and "is one of only two known areas in South Westland regularly used as a nursery area by the rare Hector's dolphin females and their calves." (https://www.newzealand.com/nz/feature/jackson-bay-fishing-village) The Jackson Bay settlement (1875-79) failed for several reasons—there wasn't any flat land to grow crops and resupplying the settlement was expensive and unreliable, because the only way to do so was via ships.

This colorful fellow was outside our room early this morning.

The road to Jackson Bay is gorgeous and isolated.

We probably saw 8 cars in 48 km.

Jackson Bay/Okahu is the end of the road.

The Jackson Bay pier is still used by commercial fishers.

I asked this fisherman and he fishes lobster.

Locals take advantage of the boat launch at the "end of the road".

 

Panorama of Jackson Bay's sheltered harbor.

We couldn't believe she took a swim in the icy water.

 

The intrepid swimmer is joined by two friends.

 

Flood damage washed out the...

...road to Jackson Bay, but reconstruction is making progress.

It rains hard here in the winter and...

...routinely washes out this precarious road.

It's molting season so penguins are in hiding.

Haast Beach on the Tasman Sea.

We were the only people on Haast Beach.

We're talking miles and miles of beach without a soul.

Yesterday the wind roiled the Tasman Sea but today it's calm.

That's us all right! We're all about quality.

Didn't ask about the venison.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Tomorrow we'll cross Haast Pass to Wanaka. We'll take our time and enjoy the outstanding beauty of the UNESCO World Heritage Highway.

 

 

 

The South Island—Hokitika to Fox Glacier, February 19, 2025

Hokitika to Fox Glacier, February 19, 2025

Except for the hour we spent walking Hokitika after coffee and a cinnamon roll this morning, it has rained buckets all day. That means we didn't see Mt. Cook and the Franz Josef Glacier on our drive here. More importantly, we won't see Fox Glacier either even though I reserved a room at Sunset Motel for two days in tiny Fox Glacier, because every room has a patio with views to Mt. Cook and this glacier. Unfortunately, rain is forecast for today and tomorrow, the entirety of and reason for our visit here. Oh well.

We'll see if we can sneak in the 3 mile Lake Matheson walk if the rain holds off anytime tomorrow. The plan was to take some walks along the Franz Josef Glacier and Fox Glacier and drive out to Abut Head and do the three mile Okarito Trig Walk, because it promises a panorama of the Southern Alps and Mt. Cook. But the mountains are shrouded in clouds beginning at about 500 feet; so much for panoramic views of the Southern Alps. Meanwhile...

This clock tower, dedicated in 1903, stands in the roundabout in the center of Hokitika. We were surprised to find that Hokitika, officially established in 1865, is still a thriving coastal town with local shops, galleries, restaurants, hotels, and a New World and Woolworth—two major grocery chains. After breakfast Wednesday (Feb. 19th) we dropped into the iSite office to ask about the town's economy. We were informed that gold is stilled mined, that the timber industry is important, there's a meat processing plant, a creamery that employs over 800 people, and that the town mines and provides Pounamu, a high quality green jade (sacred to the Maori), to most of the world. Who knew?

We asked for Stumpers Cafe's largest flat white and we got it!

After coffee, we took this walkway to the...

..beach through this exhibit.

I love the title of this photograph!

I love that this is a bench in the shape of a book.

Local resident on the green just before the beach.

Not-so-local overlooking beach.

Driftwood tents seem to be a thing all along the beach.

This one resembles a Duwamish Longhouse.

The drive to Fanz Josef was leisurely...but no mountain.

Summer world wide is road work time.

We stopped in Franz Josef to stretch our legs and ended up ducking into Full of Beans for a flat white while waiting out this deluge before pushing on to Fox Glacier.

The view from our Fox Glacier room at 3PM.

The view from the yard back to our room.

The video from our room at 5:30PM.         

Fox Glacier, February 20, 2025

The rain stopped this morning around 6AM and is supposed to hold off until 2PM, so we decided to walk Lake Matheson. And as we were warned by our server at the cafe this morning, the weather may unexpectedly change. She nailed it. Half way around Lake Matheson the rain started, and by the time we finished our walk, we were soaked. But it was still beautiful.

What, blue sky at 7:30AM?!

By 9:30AM we saw some of Mt. Cook.

30 minutes later the clouds are back.

 

When you read this, note how views are highlighted. Well, not today.

The South Island flightless Takahē is everywhere.

 

The suspension bridge at the start of the walk.

This walk reminded us of the Hoh Rainforest.

This flax plant is 7 feet tall.

Red Pine, prized by loggers.

Note how straight the Red Pine is.

Lake Matheson. Um where's the Mt. Cook reflection?

Fox Glacier pic taken from Peak Viewpoint.

Clearwater Creek

We have crossed many bridges like this...

...and some were way longer than this one. You get used to it.