South Island of New Zealand, a 2,350km self-drive trip

West Coast / Fox Glacier

We drove from Christchurch to West Coast via Arthurs Pass. An alternative is to take the scenic TransAlpine train from Christchurch to Arthurs Pass then to Greymouth. We had whitebait (a West Coast specialty) sandwich for lunch. Quite a long drive, totalling 7 hours, including all stops.

Two of the top tourist attractions along the West Coast are Franz Josef Glacier and Fox Glacier. Walking to the glaciers under wet weather calls for caution.

Scenery along the West Coast was quite spectacular. The reflection of the mountains from Lake Matheson (right), just a few kilometres from Fox Glacier, is famous, but unfortunately the weather condition on the day we visited was not accommodating. The reflection from a certain lake before reaching Fox Glacier (left) was actually superior.

I liked the geometric shape of the Salmon farm (right), about an hour's drive from Fox Glacier towards the Queenstown direction.

Waterfalls and rapids seemed to be everywhere on the South Island.