Franz Joseph Glacier & Jackson Bay

Day 5. 29 Dec (Tue)

Woke up early today since we are checking out from Fox Glacier & heading to Wanaka. Decided to head back to Franz Joseph for the glacier walk on our own.

Early Maori called the glacier Ka Roimata o Hine Hukatere - The tears of the avalanche girl. The legend tells of a girl whose tears froze to form the glacier after her lover fell to his death from one of the peaks.

The West Coast is a walker's paradise! We did the Sentinel Rock Walk & Douglas Walk.

Douglas Walk to Peter's Pool which provided an ultra fantastic reflective view up the glacier valley.

5km west of the Fox Glacier Township is Lake Matheson, famous for reflecting a near-perfect image of Aoraki/Mt Cook.

Stop by Bruce Bay for more photo taking.

Drove an additional 48km from Haast junction to Jackson Bay, a fishing village with great views of the Southern Alps for yummy Fish & Chips!

The views along 'The Coast Road' on SH 6 are simply spectacular! Luxuriant rainforest, river & lakes & the Tasman Sea provided the pristine scenery.

Mt Aspiring National Park encompasses the bottom end of the Southern Alps, and Mt Aspiring/Tititea has been compared to Switzerland's Matterhorn because of it's pyramidal shape. It is also the highest peak outside the Mt Cook region. The Blue Pool of Haast Pass, just north of Makarora in the Mt Aspiring National Park provided a perfect view of glacier-fed water in deep azure blue pools.

Beautiful sights at Boundary Creek.

Check-in to Edge Water Resort along the Lake Wanaka for the night. Would probably be our best hotel throughout the trip with a kitchenette, living & dining room, a spacious bath & bed room and a perfect lake view. Room rate cost a whopping $320/night.

Again, we had a late 9.30pm dinner after a nice shower. Dinner was at a restaurant along Ardmore Street. I had a light salad with calamari while Gerald ordered the sirloin steak with mushroom sauce. Yummy!

Car Rental day 3 Distance Covered: ~420km