2 Geckos Travelling Australia: Thurs, 19th Mar, 2026 (part2) Pleasant Flat Campground, Mount Aspiring National Park to Powerline gravel pit by Waikukupa River, NZ (Fox Glacier etc)

Copeland Valley walking trail starts on the other side of the river.

Over another creek with a very long name but I missed the photo. Mt Fox ahead of us but the top is hidden by cloud.

Across Cook River - dirty white water, probably from rain disturbance.

Continued on and turned off just before the Fox River bridge into the Fox Glacier car park.

A brief view of Fox Glacier area as the clouds lifted. A helicopter just flew up the gorge.

Met the family that did the bungy jumping when we were checking out the walk information and deciding whether to spend the money on a helicopter flight or walk. A French couple just came back and said it was worth the walk even with the clouds. They showed us their photos. Decided to do the walk.

Back to the camper for a cuppa and snack then headed off. The helicopters leave from the clearing on the other side of the river.

Tested the water in the warm and cold springs. Just warm and very cold!

Picturesque walk with the sound of the rushing water beside us.

Arrived at the first lookout and chatted with another couple from SA while we waited for the clouds to move across and expose the glacier. Zoomed in on a waterfall. Another helicopter went over. That’s the only sad bit is instead of peaceful tranquillity there is the constant buzz of helicopters. Very happy with the photos I took with my trusty little camera and glad the clouds played the game and gave us a good view.

I reread my 1982 diary and we did the walk to the glacier face. My comments were - “I thought it was a short walk - hours later! Up hills and down. Debbie and I stopped at the top of a hill, the others went down the hill then onto the glacier so we just watched. We saw a landslide of ice which the others didn’t. Boy it was a long way.” What a sook I was considering the hikes we do now.

Headed back down the ‘track’ which is a road then turned onto the detour Moraine Track which is a narrow track. Very pretty walk and glacier information.

You can see how a lot of people travel over here by the ratio of campervans to cars. Unfortunately no freedom camping around here.

Back to the camper then across the Fox River - looking downstream.

Into the township then onto Cook Flat Road. Through more farms then turned off to Lake Matheson. Found some StarRV ‘friends’ to park beside.

This lake is famous for mirror views of Mt Cook etc but not today with all this cloud. Unfortunately though what sun there was made it hard to take photos of some the info boards. Julius Von Haast visited the glaciers in 1865 and described them. Sir William Fox was the first official tourist to visit in 1872 and Fox Glacier was named in his honour. He was an artist and 4 times Premier of NZ.

These are walks to do.

Drove out to Glacier Peak View near Clearwater Creek. Not a good day for mountain views.

Impressive Waka ‘Canoe of the Gods’.

Peaceful memorial to 9 people who perished in a plane crash in 2010.

Walked along the road a bit to Clearwater Creek - not flowing too much and tanin-stained, not clear!

The road to Gillespies Beach was gravel so we skipped that one. Back to town. The Fox Glacier Hotel mentioned on the info boards. Some other interesting homes as we continue towards Franz Josef.

Onto the range road, nice views as we travel up and down the hills with hair pin turns. Passed one cyclists pushing his bike up the steep grade but the next guy was still pedalling.

As there is no freedom camping at Fran Josef either we saw a track under the power line as we descended towards a river. Drove along - plenty of gravel area. Chose a spot and got our drinks out.