We woke up this morning in dark, dreary, rainy and cold Fox Glacier Village and are finishing in sunny, 27 degree Lake Wanaka.

We had had a nice stay in Fox Glacier Village, but were keen to get on the road again. There were a couple of sites/sights around Fox Glacier (Lake Matheson and a lookout of the glaciers and a couple of mountains) we hadn’t done yet. We had thought we might do this morning if there was a chance of seeing anything, but the cloud/fog was in so low, we decided not to try and be frustrated at the poor visibility.  So we headed south for about an hour when we made our first stop on our way to Wanaka.

Munro Beach walk starts not far off the main road and is a very beautiful walk through the coastal rain forest for about 30 minutes to a beach known to be a nesting site for some Fiordland Crested Penguins. There was the obligatory suspension bridge over a creek which always adds so much fun to these walks.

The path follows a stream and comes out on the beach adjacent to it. Another very stony, pebbly beach and stream with a great opportunity to look for more green-stone. (We have already had a chance to collect some from the beach at Hokitika a few days ago.) We were also very lucky to see one of the penguins. They are mostly seen in spring when they come ashore to breed, nesting in the large rocky areas on the beach. They sometimes come ashore at this time of year to moult, but are not as often seen, so we were very fortuitous. We stayed the requisite 40 metres away but got a pretty good look through Colin’s little telescope and watched the little guy for about 15 minutes.

About 30 minutes further down the road, we came to the tiny location of Haast, where we stopped briefly for some lunch and shopping. There was a nice shop with a lot of the similar types of merino/possum clothing we have seen elsewhere and jewellery. There was some nice possum/merino yarn too which I couldn’t resist. The lady there had a baby possum she had rescued from the pouch of a road-kill victim. He was about 4 months old, still on milk and had to be wrapped up for a sleep in a beanie not long after we got there. Liam was chuffed to see him.

Back on the road again, and we drove through Haast Pass which was the road through the mountains from the west coast, centrally. This mountain pass was quite different as it wasn’t the usual big windy road up and then down the mountain. This time we followed the river along the valley floor, with minimal vertical movement – much more pleasant and easier. As we got closer to Wanaka we were driving along this series of humungous lakes – 30 km long.

Wanaka itself sits by a lake of the same name. Our host says it is larger than Lake Taupo where we stayed in the north island, but it doesn’t look as big to me. The town is a little bit smaller too, but is certainly as busy with holiday makers – both local Kiwis and tourists like us. We have a large, very well equipped self-contained unit on the lakefront, with an amazing view over the lake to mountains. Some of the mountains on the right of our outlook still have snow on the very top.

The rest look quite bare and dry. I understand this is because they don’t get a lot of vegetation on these mountains as it snows on them during winter. We have had a little walk along the lake’s beachfront before dinner and into town this evening after dinner. We arrived back in time to watch the sun set behind the mountain directly opposite us.