Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
Track
(20 minutes return) starts from the Glacier View Road car park and allows people
of all abilities the chance to view the glacier.
Pick up a copy of DOC's excellent
Glacier Region Walks
booklet ($2) which provides
maps and illuminating background reading.
Fox Glacier Guiding
GUIDED WALK
( 03-751 0825, 0800 111 600;
www.foxguides.co.nz
;
44 Main Rd)
Guided walks (equipment
provided) are organised by Fox Glacier Guiding. Half-day walks cost $132/105 per adult/
child; full-day walks are $185. Helihikes cost $399/369 per adult/child, while a day-long
introductory ice-climbing course costs $320 per adult. Note that age restrictions vary de-
pending on the trip. There are also easygoing two-hour interpretive walks to the glacier
(adult/child $49/35). Longer guided helihike adventures are also available.
Other Walks
Lake Matheson
LAKE
The famous 'mirror lake' can be found about 5km down Cook Flat Rd. Wandering
slowly (as you should), it will take 1½ hours to complete the circuit. At the far end - on a
clear day - you may, just
may,
get the money shot, but failing that you can buy a post-
card at the excellent gift store by the car park. The best time to visit is early morning, or
when the sun is low in the late afternoon, although the presence of the Matheson Cafe
means that any time is a good time.
Gillespies Beach
BEACH
Follow Cook Flat Rd for its full 21km (unsealed for the final 12km) to the remote black-
sand Gillespies Beach, site of an old mining settlement. Various interesting walks can be
had from here, from a five-minute zip to the old miners' cemetery, to the 3½-hour return
walk to Galway Beach where seals are wont to haul out. Don't disturb their lazing about.
On the way there or back, stop at the signposted
Peak View Picnic Area
to spin the dial
and determine exactly which mountain you're looking at.
Skydiving & Aerial Sightseeing
With Fox Glacier's backdrop of Southern Alps, rainforest and ocean, it's hard to imagine
a better place to get high. Costs at Fox parallel those at Franz Josef, as does healthy com-
petition, which sees all heli-operators lined up on the main road.
Skydive Fox Glacier
SKYDIVING
