The day dawned with a cloudless blue sky so we drove with high hopes to the sightseeing flight office. They said that it was still too windy at high altitude so we couldn’t do the “Mountain Scenic Spectacular” flight that we had booked. However, New Zealand’s normal weather pattern was back to front as the good weather was on the West coast with the winds blowing from the East. That meant that we could still do the “Twin Glacier” flight as this kept below the tops of the mountains. We decided to take the lesser flight and I’m very glad that we did as it was one of the best things that we did on the holiday.
The woman in the office radioed for a helicopter then she drove us to the landing site. We only had to wait for a few minutes before it came into view and touched down. There were a couple of people on board who disembarked, then they pumped some fuel into the helicopter before we climbed aboard. I got the seat at the front next to the pilot which had a great view forwards and down through the window by my feet.
Coming in to land
We took off and headed to the Franz Joseph glacier. When we arrived over the glacier the pilot hovered and turned the helicopter through 360°, giving us a great view. We then flew all the way up the Franz Joseph glacier to the névé, the area above a glacier where snow collects. Snow is compressed by later falls and becomes solid ice. The weight of this snow and ice forces its way downhill, forming a glacier.
The glacier as it begins to descend from its névé
The glacier meltwater forms the Waiho river which runs the short distance to the Tasman Sea
From the Franz Joseph névé we hopped over a mountain range to the névé of the Fox glacier. The pilot landed the helicopter near the southern edge of the snowfield and we got out to have a good look around. We were the first flight of the day to land there and overnight snow had covered any footprints from yesterday. Wherever we walked it was if were were the first people to do that. The pilot rather spoilt the illusion by pulling a pole with a flag on it up from out of the snow near to where he landed! That was his landing marker and it showed how much snow had fallen in order to nearly bury it.
Our helicopter on the Fox glacier névé
Mount Haast on the left and Mount Tasman on the right. If you look at the left of Mount Haast you can see snow being blown off the mountain by the strong winds. That’s why we couldn’t fly to see Mount Cook beyond them. Mount Cook is New Zealand’s tallest mountain, 3754m high
Looking across the Fox glacier névé and out over the Tasman Sea
Because the névé is so large and smooth sightseeing planes can land on it. This one made a touch-and-go pass before coming back in to land. Doing it in a helicopter seems a better idea to me!
Standing on the snow was a really superb experience. It didn’t feel cold as the sun was shining strongly. I guess that we were there for about five minutes, taking photos and appreciating the views. On the way back I sat in the rear of the helicopter to let my friend Jason have the front seat. After taking off we flew low over a rougher part of the névé with deep crevasses. We then flew down the glacial valley before landing back at Fox.
We headed south down SH6, stopping for a quick break at Knights Point before driving through the town of Haast. South of Haast is the Mount Aspiring national park. We stopped several times to look at the various sights along the road.
A lovely sunny day at Knights Point
Roaring Billy, one of the many waterfalls cascading into the Haast River. We tried panning for gold using a plate but didn’t find anything
At one point the road crosses the Haast River on a wooden bridge. A large coach had crossed in front of us so taking the campervan across didn’t worry us. Just upstream of the bridge is the Gates of Haast, a large collection of boulders which the river roars over
Taken from the bridge whilst trying not to fall off it!
The Fantail Falls
A bridge to a scenic area called the Blue Pools
I was too chicken to cross it
No gold to be found here either
South of the Mount Aspiring national park the road runs along the shore of Lake Hawea
Once we got to to the town of Wanaka we stopped in a carpark on the southern shore of Lake Wanaka. We nipped into the tourist office there where one of my friends had a brilliant idea. We had planned to drive to Milford Sound in the Fiordland national park but we found that we could take a sightseeing flight from Wakana. Flying would save us two days of driving round twisty mountain roads so we all thought that the flight was an excellent idea. Although the tourist office was about to close they helpfully phoned the flight office and booked us tickets for the morning.
After the long drive we decided to have a relaxing evening. We fed some ducks from a pier running out into the lake then found a nice little Thai restaurant for dinner. We stayed the night at the Pleasant Lodge holiday Park.
Beware of the ducks - they're quite agressive!