Haast Pass heading west

04.02.2017

The day starts off a bit disappointing as we realize at the gas station that we don't have any Kiwi dollars left. But that doesn't stop us and we pull out our golden credit card and pay. :D

We head towards the west coast through Haast Pass. On the way there, we stop at the Blue Pools. At this point, two streams with beautiful clear blue-green water meet and flow together. We like it there, but so do the thousands of sandflies that have already feasted on the leg of another tourist next to us. Let's move on!

Next stop is Fantail Fall, named after the tail of the bird of the same name and showing some similarity. Then we go to the Roaring Billy Falls. To get there, we walk through a wonderfully lush green rainforest and to be honest, the forest was much more beautiful than the waterfall.

We continue, leaving Haast Pass behind and visit Ship Creek and Monroe Beach on the west coast. With the latter, we had hoped to meet some penguins, but instead we encountered countless sandflies again.

Later, we arrive in Fox Glacier and wait for dusk while enjoying a cozy dinner and some reading. When it's dark, we take a walk along the Minehaka Glowworm Walks in the nearby forest. There, thousands of glowing blue dots light our way. It looks like a starry sky in the forest.