About Fox Glacier
Fox Glacier is situated on the West Coast of the South Island of New Zealand.
If you are traveling a long way to get to New Zealand and consider New Zealand to be very remote, than Fox Glacier would almost be beyond comprehension. The nearest Supermarket is just 175 ks away in a delightful wee town called Hokitika. Here too, is what we call our local airport.
Our main service town and local hospital is only a little further, this being Greymouth and would be just 210 ks - incidentally Greymouth is the terminus for the train from Christchurch the famous Trans Alpine Express (not sure why it is called a express as it is quicker to drive, but nowhere as scenic). Just for general info Nelson would be over 500 ks North and Christchurch approx 370 ks to the east through the mountains, anyway back to FOX…
We are approx 200 meters above sea level, and have a permanent snowfield at 2300metres. The west coast is a very narrow strip of land squeezed between the Tasman Ocean and the mighty SOUTHERN Alps. In the Glacier region the distance between Sea and Mountains is only 24 ks. From Fox village the Alps seem to go straight up to over 12,000 feet with Mt Cook and
Tasman towering above the Fox valley. Of course any of you that have a basic understanding of Geography and the weather would quickly understand our weather patterns, and be prepared for our climate.
Our Glacier is approximately 13ks long and is currently the biggest on the West Coast; of course it used to be bigger. Approx 250years ago it reached the sea, but due to Global warming, and the need for ice in our soft drinks it has shrunk, but believe me it is still plenty big enough. Anyway, all we need is more heavy snow to collect the basin at the top of the glaciers to move them forward once more.
I should mention the rainfall and suggest you do bring an umbrella or raincoat (or if you can’t swim a buoyancy aid ) as we do get over 5.500mm per year. Most of this falls at night.
Heading south you will encounter some of the more remote Podacarp forests left in New Zealand. Please be careful
When driving this stretch of the coast as your gaze will be constantly diverted from the road to the mountains, forest and beaches. They combine to make this a spectacular drive to Haast, just a mere 120ks away.
After leaving Haast you will slowly climb to the Haast Pass and the Magnificent Forests, Lakes and Mountains give way to the dryer tussock country of Central Otago and Wanaka, where incidentally we have our other local supermarket and Doctor,. This is just a mere 390ks, so you see living in Paradise means you have to have a good memory, have good lists, stay healthy, or just like driving, as a three hour drive for groceries, can be a little tiresome.
