We filled up on gas and headed out of Haast. We drove for an hour or two and then down a gravel road to the Fox Glacier. The trail to the lookout wasn't long and the view wasn't as I expected. The glacier was still a long ways off and we didn't really have to time to hike closer to it. We left and tried our luck at the next glacier. We drove to the starting point of a few walks to the Franz Josef Glacier. The glacier was off in the distance as well and instead of going for a walk on one of the trails, we ended up snacking in the car.
We kept going until we stopped in Hokitika. It was sunny and breezy at the beach and in the sand, the town's name was spelled out in driftwood. Afterwards, we made a 30km side trip to the Hokitika Gorge. It was a 10 minute walk to a swing bridge that crossed over the beautiful blue and milky river. The light grey boulders against the blue water were accented by the bright sunlight which made for great picture taking. We climbed on the rocks and took in the gorgeous area. A short while later, we went back to the car.
By the time we reached Picton, it was dark. We had just driven the majority of the west coast and across the width of the South Island to the northeast corner. We searched around the deserted town for a gas station to fill up the car before we dropped it off in the morning. Then we pulled into a quiet holiday park and spent some time organizing and packing up our things. We didn't make it to bed until about 1am.
