The New Zealand Adventure Part 3: Glacier Day

A good part of our 5th day in NZ was spent driving – not to mention all the driving we did the night before after leaving Abel Tasman. Admittedly, this was a hard leg on poor Greg who was behind the wheel; however, it turned out to be a good day to cover ground because it rained for a good part of the day and hiking would have been pretty limited. Rain and all, there were some very pretty sections of the drive.

We pretty much crossed the entire western side of the island in one day, but by early afternoon we’d made it down to glacier country. We hit Franz Josef Glacier first. It was still raining when we got there though, so visibility wasn’t all that great and we couldn’t get very close.

Fox Glacier seems to be less famous and for some reason it gets less hype, but in my opinion it gives you a more up close and personal experience. The glacier walk at Fox gets you a whole lot closer to the glacier’s head. It had also stopped raining by the time we got to Fox, so we got a much better look.

There may have been a barrier at one point, advising one to not go beyond that point without a guide, but we took that to be just a suggestion. (I doubt the parks administration would be very happy with us – but I promise, we were very careful.) While it may have not been strictly legal, hiking a short distance from the viewing platform got us quite close to the glacier head.

I should say that legal hikes are offered with trained guides up to and around both of the glaciers. Helihikes are also offered that drop you on the glacier for a glacier walk – which I would love to do should I ever get the chance again – but it wasn’t in the cards this time. As I’ve mentioned before, the summer days in NZ are long, but things shut down early. To do this type of excursion, you need to make sure to book early in the day. Often the last excursion of the day leaves by mid-afternoon. Still, at Fox glacier, we had a really beautiful little hike that wasn’t strenuous at all . . . and completely free.

After we left the glaciers it was time for driving. We stopped for dinner at The Hard Antler, a roadhouse style bar and restaurant in the little town of Haast.

For dessert, we ordered Sticky Date Pudding. This dessert is similar to a bread pudding and extremely popular in Australia and New Zealand. We’d heard a lot about it but had never tried it and decided to take the opportunity here. It was AMAZING! So Delicious! It seems, though, that we’ve been forever spoiled by our first experience with Sticky Date Pudding. We’ve ordered it several times in other restaurants since, and somehow, it hasn’t lived up since. They’ve ranged from pretty bad, to decent, but we haven’t had one that came close to touching that first pudding.

This isn't the sticky date pudding. I had no way of knowing that this particular pudding would loom so largely in my memory and I didn't take a picture. I've borrowed this one to give you an idea.

More driving after dinner. However, the drive through the Haast Pass and around the hilly country around Lake Wanaka was extremely pretty and just got more gorgeous as twilight set in. We had to stop a few times to take in the sunset.

And then more driving . . . all the way to Queenstown.

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