A break from mountain flying while the other Cessna, ZK-TRS, was in for its hundred-hour inspection, so we drove from Wanaka over Haast Pass to Fox Glacier.
Haast Pass/Tioripatea in the Southern Alps lies in Mount Aspiring National Park. At 562m above sea level, it is the lowest of the three highway passes that cross the Southern Alps, between the valleys of the Haast and Makaiora Rivers.
Most of the area is unmodifed southern beech forests. We had our picnic lunch in the forest at the top of the pass.
After lunch we continued north through Haast, a small town in Westland District on the Haast River, to Fox Glacier, a tiny tourist-oriented village near the glacier of the same name. We had supper there before returning to Wanaka. We could not actually see the glacier because the weather had closed in; we got some rain on the drive back.
©2025 Mermaid Underwater Photographic. All Rights Reserved.
Contact us at mermaid@underwater.org.
Last modified 3 February 2025