Day-5 19 December (Queenstown to Fox Glacier)

Assorted ride videos from Day 5

After another heavy breakfast, we tank up the bike and leave Queenstown & its wonderful memories behind to move north westerly and make our way towards the west coast of the South Island. We have to backtrack to Wanaka climbing the steep Alpine Route.















After Wanaka, we continue on Rte 6 and branch left onto another scenic road where Lake Hawea gives us company on the right for some distance after which the picturesque Lake Wanaka accompanies us on our left. The twisty curvy road along the lake is a bikers delight, however there are bold warnings in place specially for motorcyclists due to the very high crash rates recorded on this beautiful but treacherous stretch of asphalt. Infact, I & wife said a prayer or two at the start of this section of road to make sure the fun remains under control at all times. On many of those tight & twisty stretches, while its enjoyment mode for me as the rider, I could imagine it would be a different experience for the pillion rider who has to lean & weave with the rider, with no handlebars to hold on and an increasing heart rate means its hug-your-hubby-tight mode for her!!



























Minor Landslide and another roadside attraction







Proceeding further we break for a quick Italian lunch pit-stop at a roadside café in Makarora, where there is a private airstrip right across the road from where we parked. We continue further thru lot of thick beautifully wooded area and subsequently tackle the amazing Haast Pass after which we have a good number of really long arrow-straight stretches where I blast open the throttle inspite of being aware NZ’s finest have an almost zero tolerance for speeding during the Christmas season.































We continue to cruise on before we briefly come face to face with the blue waters of the mighty & magnificent Pacific Ocean on our left. After that our Rte 6 deviates a little inland passing Lake Moeraki, Lake Paringa & Jacobs River before dropping us off into the small & silent town of Fox Glacier, our base for tonight.















The trademark leaf of the Kiwis









Some tourists seem to have left a ‘lasting impression’!













We check into the Westhaven B&B and quickly unload our panniers and immediately head to see the glacier (or what is left of it now). Its just out of town, but the last 300 odd meters is pure gravel to the parking area and I am careful with the RT with so much of Tupperware to take care….. I look around and fortunately don’t see any signs of the dreaded Kea Parrot a.k.a Mr. Seat shredder…From the parking lot its an interesting 2-3 km trek by foot thru rocky terrain to the base of the glacier surrounded by bare razor sharp mountains on all sides. Its a scene to behold. Here we ask a Japanese gentleman to take our picture and soon learn that he, Mr. Sato is the tour guide of a visiting Japanese group. More on Sato-san later…







Warning against two different kinds of crooks

















The glacier, rather what is left of it after global warming…





From the glacier we head to the nearby Lake Matheson which is renowned to produce the perfect mirror image of Mt Cook and Mt Tasman in its still waters. There we came across some professional photographers with their high-tech DSLR camera equipment, filters, heavy duty tripod, insect protection masks etc trying to get the most crispy pics of the place, but Mrs & Mr Adventure decided our simple point & shoot camera should do it for us. They gave us a funny look that reminded me of an old Indian Fevicol adhesive ad where a classy gentleman with high-tech fishing gear is waiting with bait but no catch, while a simpleton nearby applies some adhesive on a stick, dips it in water and pulls it out with some fish stuck to it and walks away a content man…







Its closing time and as we prepare to leave, Mr. Sato-san and his group are also here! Anyways, we bid farewell to him, watch a magnificent sunset near Lake Matheson and hurry back into town and settle for a nice local dinner at this restaurant with wonderful ambience called the ‘Last Kitchen’.







Its been a long tiring day and naturally we just drop flat into bed and call it a day.