Fox Galcier vs Mount Cook

<p>I'll travel to Australia nex March and plan to spend 5 days in SI of NZ. I know it's a very short stay so I just concentrate on a few places. Here is my plan:<br>

Day 1 Sydney-->Queenstown(arriving at2:15pm) stay at Queenstown<br>

Day 2 Queenstown-->Mildford Sound stay at Milford (or Te Anau ?)<br>

Day 3 Milford-->Queenstown-->Arrow Town-->Lake Wanaka stay at Wanaka<br>

<strong> or: Milford-->Arrow Town stay at Arrow Town</strong><br>

Day 4 Wanaka/Arrow Town-->Fox Glacier+Franz Josef stay at Fox Glacier<br>

<strong>or: Wanaka/Arrow Town-->Mount Cook stay at Mount Cook</strong><br>

Day 5 Fox Glacier/Mount Cook-->Queenstown--Sydney flight at 5:15PM<br>

I'll be there from March 5-9. Will Milford and Fox Glacier be cold at that time? Milford is very wet in March?<br>

How about Mount Cook and Fox Glacier?<br>

Any suggestions are welcome.<br>

Thanks.</p>

<p>IMHO there is too much in your schedule here- you will be driving too much and missing out on photo ops. For instance, day 4 Wanaka to Fox Glacier is a magnificent drive over the ridge and decending down through the Haast River valley. In March with avail. daylight and decent weather (visibility) you would want to take the entire day driving this.</p>

<p>Mount Cook summit is a long way from any road access. It can be viewed well from long distances at many places on the Sth Island weather permitting. If you want to see it in close quarters you will have to hire a helicopter or chance taking a joy ride flight. There are flights from Franz Joseph (and prob. other places like Wanaka) which take you up to the snow line and drop you off to observe the Alps (again weather permitting) this is well worth organising but will take the best part of half a day out of your schedule. The west coast is always cold, cool at best - without fail. A 21 degree C. day there is considered a heatwave and very unlikely to be experienced in March. (Franz Joseph area)</p>

<p>Wanaka is a delight in March but dep. upon seasonal variation the autumn colours may be yet to materialise. That goes for Arrowtown too. If the weather is fine I'd suggest spending a whole day driving up the head of the Mount Aspiring walking trail from Wanaka and spending a day walking from the car park, up the river valley to the first overnight hut and back to the car park, easily done in a day and fabulous photo opportunities with Mt. Aspiring in full view for most of the walk.</p>

<p>Milford Sound, like the entire Fjorland coast is always wet, but March is one of the most stable months weather wise to visit. From Queenstown you will want to budget for a good 4-5 hours to reach Milford Sound. Te Anau is another delightful location but still a good 2.5-3 hour drive from Queenstown + photo stops.</p>

<p>With only 4 nights I'd be arriving at Queenstown, checking the weather forecast and deciding where to go / what to see from there. There is plenty of accomodation in March in most of the locations you mention. I think you need to need to limit yourself to seeing only a few places well rather than stretching yourself too far. Although on a map places appear close to one another, long winding roads and plenty of photo opportunities on the roadside can make for long travel times between places. </p>

<p>Mathew, thank you so much for your very useful infomation and suggestion. I'll reconsider my plan.</p>

<p>Your stay is very short indeed, so I'd concentrate on sure things, i.e. those not dependent on the weather.</p>

<ul>

<li>On the one hand, Milford Sound is beautiful in any weather - different, but still beautiful.</li>

</ul>

<ul>

<li>Fox Glacier, on the other hand, can be inaccessible in poor weather and the beautiful Matheson lake will be barely seen in rain.</li>

</ul>

<ul>

<li>Driving in NZ is an experience that sometimes rivals actually getting to your destination - as far as photography goes, your chances of getting a <em>great image that wasn't photographed a million times</em> (while still slim) are much higher on the road than at your destination.</li>

</ul>

<ul>

<li>Kinloch is a hidden gem quite close to Queenstown - it would take you just over an hour to get there if the road wasn't so beautiful. Driving to Glenorchy (part way to Kinloch and the road is paved there) is an experience that rivals some other highlights. Try to stay a night at Kinloch to catch both sunset and sunrise there - amazingly beautiful views. Watch out for mosquitoes though.</li>

</ul>

<ul>

<li>Arrowtown, while a charming place, can be skipped IMO - at least as far as photography goes.</li>

</ul>

<ul>

<li>Wanaka Lake is very beautiful by itself and I'd recommend a package called Siberia Experience (google it, the first result is the one you're looking for). The main advantage is that if you're short on time you get to experience a lot in half a day. And after over a month in NZ this is still one of the greatest experiences of the trip. The package includes:</li>

</ul>

<ol>

<li>Scenic flight to a beautiful Siberia valley with lots of photo ops as everyone gets a window seat in such a small place as Cessna 185</li>

<li>Hike for 3 hours in the valley. The place is beautiful, but the problem here is that you need to keep going as opposed to setting a tripod and waiting for the best light. Note that you need to cross a shallow, but a very cold river right after landing. Still worth it though.</li>

<li>Jetboat ride back to where you started Makarora (an hour drive from Wanaka). Not a lot to shoot and the ride - while fun - is less impressive than the Shotover jet one.</li>

</ol>

<p>How about this itinerary:</p>

<ul>

<li>Day 1 - Drive to Wanaka. Spend the day in Wanaka. You can drive around the lake - Glendhu Bay is esecially beautiful. This can take the whole day with some short hikes along the lake. Spend the night in Wanaka.</li>

</ul>

<ul>

<li>Day 2 - Drive to Makarora early in the morning for Siberia experience. Allow for 5-6 hours there. Drive to Queenstown. Spend the night in Q-town.</li>

</ul>

<ul>

<li>Day 3 - Drive to Te Anau. If you're not very tired, make a short hike from Rainbow Reach (~20m drive South from Te Anau) - the full return hike can take 4-5 hours, but you can turn around whenever you want and even 30 minutes there would be great with the moss-covered trees, mushrooms, a river that was Anduin in the LOTR trilogy.</li>

</ul>

<ul>

<li>Day 4 - Drive to Milford Sound some 30m before sunrise. Stop whenever you can and enjoy the views. Take a cruise on the sound - very nice (though the road plus the views from the land are the most beautiful IMO). Drive back to Te Anau before it gets dark. It would've been perfect to spend the night in Milford as you'd get to shoot both sunset and sunrise photos there - but it would be a very strenuous drive back to Q-town.</li>

</ul>

<ul>

<li>Day 5 - Drive to Q-town. Fly to Sydney. If you're not too tired, drive to Glenorchy - at least get to the Bennett's Bluff (30-40m from Q-Town).</li>

</ul>

<div></div>

<p>I think I'd choose Fox Glacier over Mt Cook. You can stay the night at Fox Glacier and take a helicopter flight up to Mt Cook, takes around 30 minutes, you can cover both at the same time, book this early too. Walk around Lake Matheson, either at sunset, best for shots of Mt Cook across the lake, or dawn, best for reflections. You can drive Queenstown / Te Anau / Milford sound / boat trip / Te Anau / Queenstown in one day, but it is long. Arrow town is very close to Queenstown, do it on the day you go to Wanaka.<br>

For what you are doing I would suggest 2 weeks, so this quickie trip is not always going to have you at the right spot at the right time for "the shot".<br>

Try and book your accommodation ahead, that will save some time at each stop. Book a lake view room at Queenstown, costs a little more but worth it. If you have any spare time at Queenstown head west up the lake, past Glenorchy, drive as far as you can go, beautiful.<br>

Driving in NZ is very easy, little traffic and good roads, so trips to Milford Sound out of Queenstown is not as tiring as say, the same distance in Europe or the US. Obey all speed limits, both Australia and NZ have plentiful radar speed cameras and patrols.<br>

Neill</p>

 

<p>Thanks a lot, Jean and Neill. Your suggestions are very helpful indeed. I appreciate it.<br />Since my wife is with me, hours of hiking is not possible. Basically I'll drive to the spot and walk around, take some pictures, then either leave or stay the night.<br />I'll spend one night at a motel hald way between Te Anau and Mildford. I'm not sure about the cruise. Probablly I can take better pictures on land and on the way. I'll spend a night at Fox Glacier and take a flight to Mount Cook if I have time .<br />Again thank you all for your valuable information.</p>

<p>Just to rephrase my suggestion for skipping Fox - last February, we spent 2 nights there in order to improve the chances of actually doing the heli-hike, but the weather didn't cooperate and the only thing I brought from there were a few shots of Lake Matheson taken in heavy rain and even those weren't too impressive. As this was the only big miss in our 5 weeks in NZ it was ok, but if it were one of 5 days spent in NZ - well, not having set foot on Fox glacier I can't know what we missed, but IMO on such a short trip it's better to go for sure bets and the country has a lot to offer.</p>

<p>Regarding Milford Sound cruise - you may be right regarding highest quality images, but it's short, not overly expensive and fun. The cruise lets you see/shoot some waterfalls w/ rainbows (if the sun's out), sea lions and the beautiful fjord itself.</p>

<p>Regards,<br>

Jean</p>

<div></div>

<p>Jean, that's a very good point. What I care most is good pictures, so I may skip Fox Glacier.</p>

<p>Billy, my wife and I are also planning a March trip to NZ. We will also be staying in Queenstown - mostly to recover from our long flight from Los Angeles. We too will stay inTe Anau and then do the Milford Sound cruise. All of the ideas offered in this discussion are helpful. For us, we want to see both islands SI for about 12 days and NI about 8 days. It's tough not to do too much driving. We are going from Milford Sound over to Dunedin, then to Christchurch and then over Arthur's Pass to Fox Glacier. We debated the Wanaka route and decided that we couldn't do everything. The northwest coast through Punakaiki and north and east to Nelson should also be interesting. Have a great trip. Let's hope for a clear day at Lake Matheson. Thanks to you all for your advice. Larry</p>

<p>@ <a href="../photodb/user?user_id=3897923">Larry Greenbaum</a> - this is just my opinion, but your time would be better spent on SI alone. NI is very nice, mind you, but the farther south you get the more beautiful/wild the nature becomes. I say spend at least 15 days on SI.</p><div></div>

<p>Larry, I envy you. I wish I could spend 20 days in NZ.<br>

I will fly from Atlanta all the way to Canberry and stay there for three days. I was debating with myslef whether to cut the one day trip to Blue Mountain near Sydney to save one more day in SI.</p>

<p>I've been to NZ probably 8 times, first time was nearly 30 years ago. Because of the investment of time getting from US to NZ, I always spend 2 weeks+. First time we went, we literally had no idea about what to see or do in NZ, landed in Auckland completely unprepared. Went to the local tourism office, "alright, we're here, what do we need to see and do". The agent looked at us like were completely mental, then asked what do we like to do, we said "photography, hiking, camping, we wanted to check out mountains" - he said, that's simple, you're on the wrong island, you need to be on the south island. We drove down, took the ferry across. We just started driving down along the western coast. Still left us with 2 weeks. I brought 10 rolls of Kodachrome 35mm, and 10 rolls of 120 film. Thinking that would be more than enough, I burned through all my film in 5 days, then had to buy more locally. </p>

<p>Long story short - 5 days is simply not enough. Each time I've been to NZ, I wish I had another 2 weeks to roam around.</p>

<p>Having said that, here's what I would recommend with 5 days. Fly straight to Christchurch, rent a car.<br>

1. Milford Sound - Catch the first tour boat in morning. Be prepared for lots of rain, the sound averages 200+ inches a year. Get some kind of cover for your camera.</p>

<p>2. Franz Joseph - take the helicopter tour, landing up on the glacier. If your budget will allow for it, one of the helicopter companies will do a door off trip so you can take photos without having to shoot through plexiglass</p>

<p>3. Mt Cook - drive out there, there's a hotel out there.</p>

<p>4. Get a book on waterfalls - there are TON's of them that are a short hike off the road, they make for some spectacular pics.</p>

<p>You can see some of my work from NZ at :