From the 1st of June its officially winter here in New Zealand. The temperature has definitely dropped, it's been below minus most nights so the hot water bottle has been getting some good use. We even had ice inside the van when we woke up in Queenstown, I've yet to be cold at night though so the layers are working. We arrived in Queenstown later than planned as we didn't set an alarm and ended up sleeping for 12 hours straight, the Stewart Island antics must have taken it out of us! When we did arrive we headed straight for a Fergburger. They're good burgers that have won plenty of awards, are they worth the hype? Probably not, but when you're hungry a decent burger is always going to hit the spot! We then mooched about the town which is basically full of very expensive shops and places you can book things like bungy jumps. The next day we knew we wanted to head up into the snowy mountains so followed Tiki trail upwards, then Ben Lomond track after that. It wasn...
We had two nights at Kohaihai campsite so we could spend a full day exploring the Oparara Valley. We arrived just as the sun was setting so enjoyed a stroll along the beach. The Oparara Valley is in Kahurangi National Park and contains caves, arches, and other rock formations, so we thought it was definitely worth going to have a look around. It's a little off the beaten track on a steep windy gravel track, so we were hoping to be impressed. We started with the caves, but found one was currently closed to help a rare species of spider to recover (in a chat with a Ranger later we found out the spiders were doing a lot better!). So we entered Box Canyon cave which was huge, and just went on and on. We had a look for spiders, and saw plenty of webs, but none of the eight legged creatures. Back out in the open we did the walk to the Oparara arch, which again was huge. Created in the eroding limestone it is reputed to be the largest one in Australasia. I couldn't get a picture to s...
We headed north stopping at the Blue Pools (can confirm, very blue) and a lovely beach lookout, all very pretty of course. We had to get our timings right as there were roadworks just up from Haast where they only let traffic through on the hour, time it wrong and you've got at 59 minute wait on your hands. We were a little early but it was lunch time so made a sandwich while we waited. Time is flying by so we need to get shuffle on, so we drove all the way up to Fox Glacier (the town) and got a walk in around Lake Matheson. It's well known for it's views, and therefore reflections of Mt Cook and Mt Tasman. We were not disappointed, it was beautifully still. As the sun was setting we cooked some noodles in the carpark then headed off on glowworm walk near the town. To our delight there were loads, once you turned your head torch off they were everywhere, like a clear night sky. The next day we started with a walk to Fox Glacier lookout. You can't get as close as you ...
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