South Island Tour

We caught the ferry straight from work and travelled through the night down the West Coast through some typical West Coast weather. We arrived in Fox at 5am, an hour later than we should have done as we had to drive back to Greymouth from Hokitika to find an 24 hour petrol station.
Looking towards the Fox Glacier township from the Alpine Club hut where we stayed.

The next morning the rain held off for a bit and we went up to explore the lower reaches of Fox Glacier.

On the other side of the divide, the sun made a half-hearted appearance so we went for a walk up Mount Iron a 'Roche Moutonee' with Lake Wanaka behind and fantastic views of the Clutha valley to the east.

From Wanaka we headed to Tarras for the night. The next morning was a bit cloudy and we didn't fancy more driving so went for a walk. After an hour on the flat, we started climbing up a 4wd track into the Dunstan Mountains. We eventually emerged up above the cloud and had fantastic views of the snow capped Pisa Range.

Looking south

Sunny on the tops.

Looking towards Wanaka

Subaru outside the house at Tarras.

The next moring we left early and headed north over Lindis Pass into the MacKennzie basin as the weather gradually improved.

Lake Pukaki and Mount Cook behind.

Driving across the MacKennzie basin.

By the time we reached Tekapo, the sun was out and the views were gorgeous and it was with great reluctance that after a pleasant walk we carried on, eventually descending back into the cloud for the drive across the Canterbury Plains and along the rugged Kiakoura coast to Picton and our late ferry back to Wellington.