Rivers of Ice Flowing into Subtropical Forests

We were relieved that we could fill up on fresh drinking water at the Arthur’s Pass Visitor Center and buy gasoline at the local store, as we were depleted in both. A curious Kea (an alpine parrot) bounced around outside the café in front of signs that read, “Please do not feed the Keas,” as well as “If your food is stolen by a Kea, you won’t get a refund.”

Feels great to hike up, up, up to be amongst alpine mountain tops.

After a morning of school (yes, we still have school on the road), we hiked the steep rocky way up Temple Basin, treated to magnificent views on this clear sunny day, all of us exhausted as we tuck into our caravan for the night.

Made the Grade (16% that is!): We thought heading up into stunning Arthur’s Pass was a struggle for our poor SUV towing the caravan; the way down was an outright roller coaster. Chris, in all his driving, has never experienced 16% grade, diving steeply into the mountainside, as he down-shifted and tried not to ride the protesting brakes too hard.

We stopped twice along the way to allow the hot brakes to cool. At the bottom, a big sigh of relief, now understanding the signs, “Towing not recommended.” We are glad we approached the Pass from East to West; we may not have made it up that grade the other direction. We rewarded ourselves with NZ savory pies for lunch at the end; they put everything in pies here from cheesy minced meats to butter chicken.

Longer day of driving, we stopped halfway to explore Hokitika Gorge with its striking glacial turquoise waters against the white limestone and bright green trees.

Tucked into our site for three nights in the Franz Josef Top 10 Park to explore the region. Our hikes included the Franz Josef Sentinel Rock Walk for a view of the rapidly receding glacier, only accessible now by helicopter tour, as well as the Peter’s Pool Walk, Douglas Walk, and Canavans Knob Walk.

Our next adventure was a half-day kayak exploration of Okarito Lagoon. Okarito sits at the centre of the largest predator-free conservation project and the largest unmodified coastal wetland in New Zealand. 

We set out with the map they provided and instructions on staying in narrow channels of water, the tide slowly giving us a ride in, as the white herons and other birds feasted on breakfast in the shallow mudbanks, Mount Cook and Tasman in the background. Such a lazy and peaceful paddle in, as we tucked further into the narrow lagoon channels, birdsong all around.

Afternoon winds gave us more of a challenge to get back to the base, the blisters on Cora’s hands a mark of her determination.

Next day, moved along toward Fox Glacier area where we hiked through ancient rainforest around Lake Matheson, a glacial gem renown for its mirror reflections of the Southern Alps with the highest peaks watching over us – Aoraki (Mount Cook, 3754 meters) and Horokoua (Mount Tasman, 3497 meters).

We moved along fern-lined roads to the South Side Fox Glacier hike; we are struck by the combination of glaciers amidst subtropical Tree Ferns that resemble palms.

“Nowhere else on earth may you see rivers of ice plunging down from a world of snow into subtropical forests…like a storm-tossed sea that has swept away its barriers and poured down upon dry land (Elsie Morton, 1929).” Part of the trail meandered over the moraine, now a magical fairy forest.

Along the stunning Haast Pass drive we walked a Tree Fern forest and skipped rocks at Roaring Billy Falls, jumped on rocks at Thunder Creek Falls, & stacked rocks at Fantail Falls.

No room at Cameron Flat campground, so we did our first “freedom camp” alongside a river, as we are considered “self-contained.” We found it lovely to be in the peacefulness of “off grid” living. 

Stopped for the night at Kidds Bush Campground on Lake Hawea where our efforts to level the caravan and keep it from sliding down the hill of the most beautiful (uneven) spot, though persistent, were ultimately not successful and we tucked in to a different flat site. Chris and I scrambled up above the treeline for some amazing views of Lake Hawea.

We unfortunately said the fighting words, “These sandflies are not as bad as Alaska insects.” The sandflies tried their hardest to prove us wrong.

Our next two nights were spent at our favorite spot thus far: Land Escape Wanaka. Our site on this 300 acre rural location came with its own spring-fed, wood-fired hottub and views of the surrounding mountains.

It was incredibly relaxing, as we soaked our sore muscles nightly with the sunset and woke to jump in for a morning coffee soak.

Having a gourmet French bakery, the Pembroke Patisserie, nearby to get take-away almond croissants was the icing on the cake (or the croissant). The owners Rik and Juliet are passionate about their renewable energy usage and local food production vision for this stellar piece of property and we enjoyed visiting with them and plan to return at some point. In between all this adventure, we have the regular life of seeking out haircuts, doing schoolwork, and working.  That being said, this part of our adventure feels the most like a vacation of any part of this voyage.

We rented e-bikes one day and saw Wanaka the best way possible, 54 km of biking on trail along the river, following the shoreline of Lake Wanaka, past Iron Mountain, and through town where we grabbed a brew and pizza before heading back. 

We took the mandatory photo of “That Wanaka Tree;” a photographer from Christchurch took a photo of the tree on a misty June day and went on to win the 2014 New Zealand Geographic photo of the year.

Roy’s Peak is a brutal, unrelenting climb (in the sun in our case) over 16km, ascending 1220m from near the lakeshore to the tiptop summit…but oh, those views! It truly is a spectacular vista!

New Zealand experiences extremely high UV index levels (more than the tropics) primarily due to its geographical location in the Southern Hemisphere, causing it to be closer to the sun during its summer months, combined with relatively clean air which allows more UV radiation to reach the ground, and a thinner ozone layer over the region. We were feeling this on this hike, trying to keep covered and reapply sunscreen, pounding water.

I was proud of our entire crew, pushing on from the viewpoint another 30 minutes up to the summit.  Cora is definitely giving her knee a work-out.