Day 15 29th September 2010 Skylarking in Wanaka to Western Shores (Franz Josef)

Cos in a WW2 Era Tiger Moth

Over Lake Wanaka

Scenery on the way to Haast

Today was our last day in Wanaka, we checked out early to drive out to Classic Flights to see if Cos was getting a joy flight. Luck was in, the weather was perfect and the pilot was keen. Suited up like Biggles, Cos is stuffed into the original 1941 era Tiger Moth ready for his 20 minute flight over Wanaka and surrounds.  A Tiger Moth is an open canopy, biplane, trainer designed to train airforce pilots during WWII.   Cruising at 160 knots/hour and approximately 1000 feet above the landscape the views over Wanaka were wonderful.  Cos felt for the pilot as we got the impression that his preferred plane was the Silver Demon and more acrobatics in flight.  Cos believes that if he had gone up again the pilot would have got his wish.  It was a very safe and entertaining flight.  Classic Flights out of Wanaka Airport were fantastic and we thoroughly recommend them.  Ivan was definitely very helpful, obliging and skilled.

Bridge to no where?

The beach??

Township of Franz Josef

After leaving the airport we returned briefly to the edge of town to fuel the car and buy insect repellent.  West Coast sand flies aren’t perturbed by the weather and are apparently comparable to helicopters on a good day. Thankfully, so far, we have only come across a few small ones.  Leaving town and heading west we passed Lake (Hawea?) and the end of Lake Wanaka.  The scenery was drop dead glorious along the way, and changed from Alpine to semi-tropical to scrubby plain. We moved onto Haast and the west coast which took about 2 hours.  Western NZ has many one lane bridges, often over beautiful Alpine rivers. One bridge leading out of Haast simply disappeared into the mist, we found out it was quite long with three stopping bays to allow two way traffic.  Didn’t see much coastline through the trees but did see one beach that sported a Beware Debris on Road after Very High Tides sign.  See photo to see the drift wood on the beach.  Edge of the beach was only 10-15 metres from the road edge.  After stopping a salmon farm for some fresh salmon for tea we reached Fox Glacier then arrived at Franz Josef 30min later.  Both Alpine townships are small and quaint.  After checking in and returning to a supermarket for additions to our salmon we returned to cook our ‘catch’.  It was about 2/3 the cost of Woolies and very yummy.

The Van Park is typical of what we have seen so far in NZ, though somewhat more modern than some. We booked for tomorrow a helicopter flight to the glazier, for a brief walk on the ice, then a 10 minute flight back to township. The flight is very dependent on the weather, which is very hit and miss we have been told.