We took a break to sleep in at our rainforest hotel and did not get picked up until 10 am. We had to drive from Fran Josef, home of the Fran Josef Glacier to the town right next to the Fox Glacier. We had a helicopter flight booked for 11, but the weather was not cooperating. Rain and wind kept the helicopter companies from taking off. So we may get another opportunity when we are closer to Mt. Cook. But although we didn’t get the chopper lift, we did get close to the Fox Glacier. A little rain wasn’t going to keep us away. We put on our rain gear and hoofed it up the trail a couple of miles to get within 450 meters from the Glacier wall. The sound of rushing water, the size of the rocks unearthed by the receding Glacier and the immense size of the valley was humbling and inspirational. Kept you motivated to keep advancing up the steep, wet, rocky path. The payoff was huge. The rain stopped when we reached the top of the trek and after carefully walking down we hopped into the car to continue our journey to our next stop.
A couple of hours driving through dense temperate rainforest. Spots on the road we went through torrential rain, at least a half an hour straight. We got the payoff from the rain as tons of waterfalls were popping up everywhere you looked. Every crack in the mountain, or break in the trees was a water spout. We took short walks into the woods to see spectacular falls. For a while we would be close enough to the coast of the Tasman Sea to pull in and take a look at some cool places.
Right before leaving the land of rainforest, we pulled into an area advertising a local “delicacy” called Whitebait. Bonnie thought she was keen to try this fritter made up of small immature fish harvested in spring as they hatch on rivers. That’s like a hundred baby fish, entire baby fish – eyes – intestines – tails, in a little batter deep fried into a fish hockey puck. Alex likes no seafood, I like most, but Bonnie was all on her own with Whitebait. We pulled into this area, which looked a little sketchy, got out, Bonnie had a nice 15 minute description of the dish, including being shown the raw ingredients, we got back in the car, even Bonnie was not up to the fish puck. After a bait free lunch at the Lost Antler we headed out of lush rainforest into dry lake country.
It was a sudden change in climate as we came down on the East side of the mountain range. From waterfalls to golden brown mountainsides eventually surrounding lakes formed by melted glaciers. Huge, deep lakes with clear water that put the colors of the Caribbean to shame. Lake Wanaka was our destination for the evening. A town that would look right at home in the Rockies.
