From Fox Glacier to Fox Glacier and Wanaka Tree ...

The weather forecast the day before still mentioned "bad weather conditions" for the glacier region, specifically for the closely located Franz Josef and Fox glaciers. Our plan was therefore to continue. Because in bad weather, you can't see the glacier well either ...

However, when we woke up that morning, the sky was partially blue with scattered clouds. We gladly took this hint and set off for the Fox Glacier after all. The desire to catch a glimpse of it was just too strong.

We drove from our village Fox Glacier to the nearby parking lot for Fox Glacier hikers. The two glaciers, Fox and Franz Josef, are among the most accessible glaciers in the world. So this was perfect for us ...

From the parking lot, it was about a 3 km hike to view the glacier, once again through indescribably beautiful nature, with a gentle incline to various lookouts. Initially, we followed the glacier river, which, as it should be, carried the clearest water. After about an hour, we arrived at the open view of the glacier. A perfect view of the partially snow-covered peaks of the high mountain range of the New Zealand Alps in the background.

The glacier pushes through the gorge in Westland National Park for about 13 km and looks massive. Especially due to the enormous boulders and debris in front of us. We stand and marvel, almost completely alone. It is still early in the day. Our start at the parking lot was around half past eight. We read that – because the glacier is so easily accessible – up to 1,000 people walk to the glacier here during the season … We are glad that we are spared from that …

On our way back, we encounter more people coming down than going up (actually, it’s just us …). Also, as we have noticed, after taking our pictures and turning our backs on the glacier, the clouds rolled in. It happened so quickly that we could practically watch a band of clouds block the view of the glacier. This occurred within two minutes … Once again, we did everything right for ourselves. For a while, everything was clouded. Too bad for all the others who, for whatever reason, missed the early ascent.

After the Fox Glacier, the road enticed us again. We wanted to go to Queenstown, and the route led along the west coast for many, many kilometers towards Haast. We amused ourselves that Haast is mentioned on all the road distance signs, together with Queenstown, although Haast had a total of 90 inhabitants in 2023. We believe that not much will have changed in 2024. If anything, the population is likely to have decreased. It should also be noted here that a multitude of houses are either abandoned or offered for sale.

We take a look at the Haast River and the Thunder Creek Fall “at the roadside.” It can be reached with just a few steps.

The route to Queenstown takes us past Lake Wanaka and Lake Hawea. The two lakes are practically next to each other. The drive along Highway 6 first leads along the eastern shore of Lake Wanaka and then continues along the eastern shore of Lake Hawea towards Queenstown. Both lakes have a beautiful blue color, and with the mountains in the background, every photo almost looks like a painting ...

At the southern end of Lake Wanaka in Wanaka, we must stop at a photo point. There, a willow stands alone in the water and continues to grow. We wonder how this is possible, as the base of the willow, that is, the roots, are constantly submerged. So you cannot approach the willow, but can only admire it from the shore. And photograph it. By the way: this willow is an Instagram hotspot and attracts a crowd of young Asians, both male and female, to shoot THAT photo for Instagram, which will definitely be the best of the now certainly trillions of photos of the willow online.

Well, we took one or two photos too. But without duck face or leg forward pose ...

Wanaka was about 70 km away from Queenstown. At the top of a pass, where the wind was blowing forcefully, we could still take a few photos as we reached the end station of our day’s journey. In town, there was still shopping to do for the next three days we will spend at “Sherwood.”