South Island – Fox Glacier to Hokitika

It was a foggy morning and a cool start, the rain had stopped but the sandflies were still knocking like crazy on the windows, time to get out of here. Jeans and long sleeves for Rosie, she had noticed people all day yesterday with huge red bites all over their legs and arms…there were mosquito’s out there….where had all these people visited in common….Rosie deducted, The Glaciers. The Operator rolled his eyes, he was going to brave it in shorts and T shirt….Good luck!

The path to the glacier started in this awesome canyon, the cliff walls were sheer on either side with waterfalls trickling down from the top. Back in the 1700s the glacier filled this whole canyon! The trek to the face or the terminal was an hour return, the path was pretty easy going and the amazing thing was that you could actually see the glacier from the carpark even.

And there she is The Fox Glacier, like a grubby river frozen in mid track while rolling down the hill, which is essentially what it is. On TV they look so much whiter and prettier…Oh well, nothing a deluge of rain wouldnt fix…oh, then again it pretty much rains here on the hour and it still hasnt helped. The Glacier itself is 13 kms long and 350 metres thick. Our glaciers advance 10 times quicker than the Swiss ones, moving up to 1 metre a day. Nowhere else in the world do we have glaciers at this latitude so close to the sea.

The glacier was named after our Prime Minister Sir William Fox in 1872, by Sir William Fox. Oh to have the power and not be a shy retiring humble person. The cave like hole in the front face is where the ice melt flows out into the river. The closer you got the more detail you could work out.   You can just make out a person in yellow on the left, that is how close we were allowed to the face, there were warnings everywhere about how quickly the face could collapse, a few years ago a couple of tourists were crushed by and ice fall…still didnt deter some who had to climb over the ropes…..

We were about 100metres from the face in a small roped off viewing area. Close up through the camera lens, underneath the gravel dust, gleaming out of the crevasses you can catch the inner glow and turquoise light of this ancient beast. It was a great walk and well worth it. On the return we passed about 250 walking in, the buses were rolling in. Some were walking the track in jandles, one was wearing ugg boots and carrying a cup of coffee and then there was the perfectly made up Japanese middle aged princess in her designer shoes and clothes clutching her oversized Gucci handbag picking her way along the stones.

Oh, and for the record, there was not a sandfly or mosquito in sight. We stopped in Fox Glacier township for a cup of coffee so Rosie could check her electronic devices and catch up with the rest of the world. Since turning onto the West Coast Rosie has had no cell or internet connection until now! Offline and in the dark for 24 hours, what a trial.

The HariHari Highway was the wriggliest road we have been on yet, we stopped for a leg stretch at Pukekura, population two, there you will find tourist buses visiting the Bushmans Centre – a tribute to the West Coast and those that are man enough to live there. Very irreverent and tongue in cheek with a very disdainful leaning towards Aucklanders and politicians. The sandfly of my nightmares hovers outside the Bushmans Centre.

Across the road is the Puke Pub – where their menu fixates on a Wildfood menu, their motto is ‘You Kill em, we’ll grill em’. The have dishes called ‘wheel tread possum’ and ‘headlight delight’….it was a little early in the morning….The rest of the winding bushy road flashed past pretty uneventfully, we stopped at Ross, it was time for a stretch, a beer and a history lesson….and maybe a wander along the river bank after looking for flashes of yellow…

The heaviest gold nugget on record in New Zealand was found in Ross in 1909. Weighing in at a hefty 2.81 kg, the nugget was named the ‘Honourable Roddy’ after the Minister of Mines, Roderick McKenzie. The nugget was bought for £400 in 1911 by the government. Mounted in a ‘fitting setting’, and it became New Zealand’s ‘decidedly handsome’ Coronation gift to King George V. When enquiries were made 40 years later, it was discovered that the nugget had been melted down to make a royal tea service. (As an aside the world’s largest gold nugget, the ‘Welcome Stranger’ nugget found at Moliagul, Victoria, Australia, in 1869 weighed a staggering 78 kg.) WOW!!!!!!!!

Now its time for that beer! Monteiths for Rosie and The Operator, the original West Coast Beer to be had in one of the original West Coast Bars, The Empire Hotel.

This picture is of the ceiling of the bar, the pieces of paper are notes, banknotes, foreign currency and plenty of our finest…even a few $100 ones…..the idea is you stand on the bar with a tack in your note, jump and insert said note into ceiling…..and land without breaking your leg or landing on anyone elses. Hhmmmm. No, The Operator was not even tempted, a bad knee and twenty years over the limit.

Just coming into Hokitika was a sign for The Hokitika Treetop Walk….dosnt mention anything about that in my area guidebook, it was only a 2km diversion so we turned off for a gander.  We came across a full carpark and a huge cafe complex in the middle of nowhere.

The name kind of gave it away as to what it would be but you couldnt see anything in the bush yonder over the cafe….it was pretty pricey as well, $100 for a family or $38 for each adult.  We are only going to be here once, so off we went.  Rosie asked at the ticket booth how long they had been there for…..11 days was the answer.                              The experience is a steel constructed walkway – 20 metres above the rainforest floor, the walkway is 450 metres long and allows you to be in the canopy of the ancient rimus and native trees.  This tower is 40 metres above the forest floor and is not one for the faint hearted.  In view or climb.

This is the cantilever area of walkway that gives a stunning view of Lake Mahinpua.  It was moving and swaying so much out on that platform, there was also a guy on it we recognised as Mr Head, Dick it was, a middle aged man jumping up and down to make it list more.  The Operator mouthed ‘Cave Creek’ to me and we hightailed it off there.  It was a little concerning there was no maximum people loading sign on that cantilever…..The experience itself was excellent and well done….in 5 years time when the underbrush has grown back and covered the forest floor from the installation scares it would be perfect!     Great effort.

Our destination of the day was Hokitika, a great little town of 3,000 built right on the sea front, park in the main street and walk down the main street and lay out a blanket on the sand.  It was abit windy and blustery for that today though so Rosie and The Operator strolled around the shops before looking for a campsite.

Tomorrow we are headed just up the road to Greymouth and are going to explore Blackball and Shantytown to try our hand gold panning……