The Grand Backpacking Adventure - Day Two - Up the West Coast

I woke up early to catch the coach bus up the west coast, and since I was up got to witness a beautiful sunrise over Lake Wakatipu.

No filters here, these were the true 7am colors. I loved waking up to The Remarkables, they are stunning. (Today is the day I get a bit cheeky with photos of myself, bear with me lol) 

I loaded the coach about 7:30am and we headed off up the West Coast. Route 6 took us past the fruit farming town of Cromwell, on the foot of Lake Dunstan. Fruit and wine farming are actually real big in this region despite the cold temperatures. Many farmers have large windmill fans in their fields to keep the frost off their fruit. We passed primarily cherry farms, it was raining so here is a google picture of the town center 

It was a pretty small town. We continued up along the Clutha river, the longest river in New Zealand and up to the town of Wanaka, on the lake. Still rainy, but I took a couple photos here at our brief stop. 

overlooking Lake Wanaka, rainy and chilly

The crystal clear waters if the Clutha river, you could see straight to the bottom.

After leaving town, we came to an rock slide on our mountain road and had to wait while the helicopter team worked to drop water on the cliff side to loosen any lingering rocks before we could pass. 

That was neat. We continued past Lake Hawea and stopped at the top of Lake Wanaka to take photos looking down the whole length. 

[the Southern Alps behind lake Hawea] 

Looking out at lake Wanaka. Still cold and breezy. 

Continuing up route 6, we passed through Mt Aspiring National park and through the Haast pass. There were some beautiful tropical falls in the park, we stopped at Thunder Creek Falls for some exploring while our drivers changed. 

We were driving out of the rain storms, but it was an eerie smoky cloud collection around us, made for some good photos though. 

We passed the Tasman sea shore, the sea always seemed angry whenever I would see it. We stopped briefly and I ran down to stick my hand in it, and got my feet soaking wet but it was worth it, I was a happy backpacker. 

There were a couple other backpackers riding the bus, one guy from England, a girl from Brazil, another girl from Finland, and another girl from Australia. I had a snack with the guy from England, Ben, and the girl from Australia, Derby. Backpackers are always eager to share their stories with you and talk about their travels, so I enjoyed listening to them.  

From the sea, we were headed into glacier country, first stopping at the Fox glacier where some got off the bus, then onto Franz Joseph at about 4pm. The mountain town is very small, two streets, one main restaurants and a slew of places to stay. A quick walk to the YHA and I checked in and dropped off my pack in a 4 share room. It had a very homey lodge feel, a sauna, and a fireplace going in the main living room, very nice. Since I had been sitting on the bus all day, I was anxious to get out and explore a bit before it got dark, so I headed out towards the glacier. 

It was a 30min walk to the glacier carpark and another 45 mins or so to the foot of the glacier. With the rain holding off, I was more than happy to make the trek, and even cloudy, the valley was one of the most beautiful places I had ever seen. 

Franz Joseph glacier valley, even with the cloudy skies so beautiful. 

I saw a Kea bird (pronounced Kia, like the car) They are New Zealand's alpine parrot. They are quite mischievous  known for pulling off the rubber liners around the windows of cars and destroying windshield wipers. This has led to a lot of hunting by humans, considering them pests. They were endangered a couple years ago, not sure on their status now. I had posted pictures earlier of them in Zealandia too. 

Here is that Kea being quite expressive. 

After the hike I headed back to the hostel for the night. It was beginning to rain on my walk back and a nice lady I had passed in the valley stopped and gave me a ride back into town, saving me about a half hour. I wont even try to spell her name because I could not pronounce it, but she was Italian and traveling to Fox glacier in the morning. I thanked her for the ride and stopped at the only restaurant in town to pick up a pizza before heading back to the YHA for the night. I ended up staying with two girl from Holland and one from Asia... she never actually said a word so I don't know where she was from. We all were pretty exhausted and asleep by 9:30.