NZ Day 7 - More Glaciers & Amazing Views
Sunday, 9 April 2017
These days seem to go by so fast! Today Jon and I got up early and went for a longish run right from the holiday park. We went down the mainstreet of Franz Josef, up the glacier valley road then out to Wombat Pool - which was actually very similar to Duck Hole Lake neer Geeveston.   
We were out before the helicopters got going for the day which was nice - they seem to fly constantly in and out of the glacier (as that’s the only way you can get up close) - of course at $495 per person, that wasn’t something we were ever going to do! Back at the campervan, once the kids were roused we headed to Lake Matheson - another place I’d been looking forward to visiting for ages - it’s famous for its amazing reflections of the mountain ranges - which would have been better if a) we had got there at dawn (ha ha ha) and b) it was a bit less windy and c) there weren’t any clouds over the mountains. Nevertheless it was a nice 4k loop around the lake and the views were pretty special anyway.  
Then it was onto Fox Glacier - which was almost exactly the same as Franz Josef Glacier - the walk into it was slightly shorter and once again the glacier has retreated massively in the last 10 years making it rather less spectacular. 
Back on the road we repeated our knack of finding great lunch spots and got a sunny parking spot at Browns Bay Beach - another dramatic windswept beach with black sand and lots of rocks and driftwood. The most awesome thing about campervanning is that you are really just driving around with your lounge room - you can plonk it down anywhere you like and enjoy the views as you eat lunch and sit on your couch out of the wind and elements. . 
After a long stop there (watching surfers and exploring the beach and a bit of sitting in the sun in the van reading), we got going again. Due to Jett needing a toilet stop we happened across another lovely lake so we threw the frisbee for a bit there before heading to our night time destination. 
The route led us through the town of Haast, which allowed Jon to do some reminiscing about the time he was hitchhiking through NZ with a group of friends in 1993…. There were four of them, so they often had to split up to get a ride. On this particular occasion there had been road closures due to land slips nearby, so there wasn’t much traffic. They’d been waiting outside Haast for four hours when Jon finally got offered a lift in a ute. There were already 3 blokes in the front of the single cab so they said he’d have to ride in the back. Since he’d been waiting so long he agreed and threw his pack in and climbed in after it. It was late afternoon when he was picked up, so the light was fading as they drove through the mountains towards Queenstown. As he bumped along in the back of the ute he started to notice the other things that were also bouncing around and shifting in the back of the’ ute with him. The first thing was a gun case. Ah - he thought - probably hunters - this is a hunting area of NZ after all. Then he noticed the blue tarp, covering something large. Then he noticed the antlers. Yep - he was sharing the back of the ute with a recently deceased deer. What a lovely way to spend the next few hours!
Back to the present and from the luxury of the front seats in our deerless campervan we were treated to beautiful views of the mountains as we drove towards the DOCs campsite at Pleasant Flat. Once there we had time to explore a little by the river before the sun set on another beautiful NZ day. Tomorrow we’ve got a few more walks planned (I think all these walks will be helping the kids prepare for the Milford Track) before we spend our last night in Wanaka. Oh - there were more cairns built today..  
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