Our Great Adventure: Fox Glacier Day 173 10/03/2015

We woke to find a bag of goodies on the doorstep, home made fruit bread and chocolate crispy cakes, courtesy of the Heaths. Karenza and Grace had dropped them off before school. We were a bit late getting up after our night out at the pictures yesterday and we were really sad to have missed them. We planned to head north west today to the coast before making our way back towards Picton, for the ferry to the North Island. From Wanaka the road heads around Lake Hawea, separated from Lake Wanaka by a narrow isthmus called the Neck. The lake was raised 20m in 1958 to facilitate the power stations downriver. The road continues towards the Haast Pass through Makarora. The Haast Pass highway was only opened in 1965, a reflection of the terrain that it passes through. The cost of keeping the highway clear of landslides is apparently significant. The river valley is very narrow and the road clambers around sheer sided rock walls streaked with waterfalls and scarred with rock slips. We stopped to take a look at Fantail Falls and then further up the road Thunder Creek Falls although the sandflies made the latter a short visit! We finally reached Haast and decided to drive south to Jackson Bay. It's the only natural harbour on the west coast. Migrants apparently arrived here in 1875 under a doomed settlement scheme, the wet weather foiling their attempts to create a viable logging and farming community. We stopped just up the road from the hamlet and enjoyed lunch overlooking the coast (the sandflies prevented lunch alfresco). From here we headed north passing back through Haast and continuing on to Fox Glacier. The road takes you through lowland forest and occasional pasture with intermittent grand views out to sea. Fox Glacier is smaller and quieter than Franz Josef with a more laid back atmosphere so we decided to stay there. We checked in at the campsite and then walked back into the town to buy provisions. We sat outside for a while before the cloud came in and the air chilled but did see the sunset turn the summit of Mt Cook a fiery red. There's a walk up by the side of the Fox Glacier that we planned to do tomorrow, weather permitting.