Showering, cleaning up and packing is very efficient in Haast - the mossies are swarming the second we open the tent door. We get on the road and head up the coast, taking in the sites as we go. We stop at Knights point for a stunning view along the west coast, and there is a tall, concrete statue erected in 1965 to commemorate when the coastal road met joining the north and the south.
We stop briefly in Poringaringa to build a mini stone temple and get eaten alive, we end up running back to the car and coating ourselves in Steve's Grandmas home made mossie repellant.
We arrive at Fox Glacier and take a look along Glacier view road - winding between lush native forest and providing an awesome view of the glacier. We take the walk out to the base of the fox glacier with every other tourist in town, but it really is spectacular. Steve was hoping some ice would collapse while we were there but it didn't happen. The surrounding mountains are ground out from where the glacier used to be and they stand straight upright.
We stop for lunch in the fox glacier township at a saloon style cafe and bar, the food is great and we contemplate staying there and having a few beers in the sun.
A brief pit stop in whakaroa, then on for a coffee break in Hokitika. We
stop to see the pancake rocks in Punakaiki, the native forest walk is awesome and the way the land has been shaped is really neat.
As we make our final run to Charleston, we wind around the coast through the sea mist as the sun sets over the south island. Spectacular.
