Fox Glacier to Queenstown

January 16, 2009

Left the really small settlement of Fox Glacier and continued down the west coast highway towards Queenstown. This really is an area that has lots of similarities to the interior of BC. At times you couldn’t have told the difference (except perhaps for the people driving on the wrong side of the road and all those one lane bridges – oh and maybe all those sheep as well).

Went through some spectacular alpine country with rushing streams pouring down and the roads twisting up, which was to be expected since this is the heart of the Southern Alps. Very high hills (even by BC standards) although they didn’t have the tall BC forests but more of a mixture of scrub and a variety of different pines.

Cruised through Haast and then followed the road away from the coast and into the hills. While in Hasst we saw again the big red truck for the German tour group Retel Tours. Their concept is a little different. By day you ride on their bus but at night the bus and the truck convert into a 30 or so little sleeping compartments. Kind of like a movable hostel since you do your own food in the portable kitchen.

Stopped at Wanaka, which is a nice little resort and had a cheeseburger right next to the starting line of the triathlon they were holding in about 10 minutes. Spent some time in the little shops but more to stretch our legs then to buy anything. Although we haven’t been doing any big driving by Canadian standards we are usually doing 4-6 hours of driving a day so a break isn’t bad.

After Wanaka it was mostly high grasslands with sheep and cattle. The road we were on kept following a valley that got narrower and narrower until the hills on wither side were almost touching. Only the road was keeping them apart. Of course there was road work right near the top which gave the guy behind me a near heart attack as I was sliding backwards trying to get it into gear (driving a stick - remember) after we had to stop on a steep slope. That will teach him to get too close.

From there it wasn’t too hard to get to Queenstown but we did have to come down one of the tightest series of switchbacks I have ever driven. It said 5 km on the curves and they really meant it.

Pulled into the driveway of some more friends of Bruce and Carolynn who had offered to put us up. Brett and Barbara Glass (and their son Matt and Brett’s mom Nan) turned out to be really nice people. Matt promptly vacated his room to sleep on the couch (although it was a nice couch in a very nice room – still) and we settled in to sponge off of another group of first rate New Zealander’s.

They had a great single story house (like the vast majority of New Zealand homes) on an acre of land over looking a small lake. Not only did they let us stay but they made us dinner as well along with wine and conversation. Both the conversation and the wine were great.