Week 42 - Glaciers and Lakes

At the start of the new week, we immediately set out for a longer hike. We headed to the Franz Josef Glacier to walk the Roberts Point Track. The trail turned out to be much more challenging than expected, mostly steep and over larger rocks.

After much effort, we reached the viewpoint overlooking the glacier. Like all glaciers of its kind, this one has significantly receded in recent decades.

During the ascent, a chamois crossed our path. We were quite surprised to see a chamois here in New Zealand, but a brief research explained that the animals were introduced from Austria as a gift. At some point, some of them escaped, and since then, they have felt at home in the New Zealand Alps. Today, there are about 18,000 of them.

However, the Franz Josef Glacier was not going to be the only one. We continued to our camping spot for the night at Gillespie Beach. On the way there, we stopped at a fantastic viewpoint with a perfect view of the Fox Glacier.

The next morning, Franzi and Oli decided to rest a bit more while Birgit and Julian hiked around Lake Matheson. The short but beautiful path around the lake offers repeated glimpses of the mountains, which reflect almost perfectly in the lake under good conditions. We were lucky, and there was hardly any wind, allowing us to see beautiful reflections. Only a few clouds on the mountain peaks prevented the perfect postcard motif.

To strengthen us all, we stopped in the village by the Fox Glacier and treated ourselves to a coffee.

This made the further drive to Lake Paringa, where we also had our campsite, no problem. By the lake, we refreshed ourselves with a small swim and enjoyed a cozy game afternoon.

Then it was already time to say goodbye to the West Coast. After a morning walk from Ship Creek to Dune Lake, we still drove to Haast.

Here, we stopped at the very informative DOC Center before heading over the Haast Pass towards the interior of the country.

With short stops at the Fantail Falls and the Haast Pass Lookout, we could stretch our legs in between.

Our final destination was the Kids Bush Campground right by Lake Hawea. A really nice spot with a great view of the lake.

The next morning, we set out early because we had the ascent to Isthmus Peak ahead of us.

This required overcoming about 1100 meters of elevation over a distance of approximately 8 km. Along the way, we were rewarded with views over Lake Hawea. Upon reaching the summit, we were greeted with a view of Lake Wanaka on the other side. Definitely a top hike that can compete with the view at Roys Peak, only without being completely overcrowded.

We certainly deserved our rest day in Wanaka the next day. After a cozy morning, we walked along the lake to the famous tree that Franzi and Julian had already visited. At that time, we shared the view with maybe 5-6 others. Now, there were probably 30-40 people busily taking souvenir pictures of the popular photo spot. This might also be due to the Chinese New Year currently being celebrated, which is the main holiday season in many Asian countries.

For lunch, Oli had picked a sandwich restaurant in the city center. Each of us chose a different sandwich, and all were excellent. We strolled a bit through the streets and along the lake before heading back to our campsite.

On Saturday, we had a longer drive to Te Anau. On the way, we made a small stop in Cardrona and a short breakfast break in Kingston by Lake Wakatipu.

Upon arriving in Te Anau, we treated ourselves to coffee and cake and strolled through the little shopping street.

After a visit to the information center and a bird rescue station, we were on our way back to our campsite.

Today, we started the day quite leisurely and only set off for our hike after breakfast at the campsite.

We hiked part of the well-known Kepler Track to the Moturau Hut and back to the parking lot.

After a gas and shopping stop in Te Anau, we continued on to the Henry Creek Campsite. From there, we will head towards Milford Sound tomorrow.