February 3, 2026
It rained all night and was still raining when we got up. It was a 4-hour drive to our next destination, Haast. The weather went from bad to worse as the drive took us into the heart of the storm. The road climbed out of the flats near the ocean into the glacier country: Franz Joseph and Fox Glacier. The road was very twisty in that area with many one-lane bridges. The scenery was lush rain forest. The trees were drinking plenty of rain today! In the open areas the wind was fierce at times with rain pouring down almost horizontally toward us. It was not a fun drive.
Fortunately it was the third time we had driven this road, so we had already done our sightseeing in much nicer weather in years past. We felt no need to stop anywhere, other than short bathroom breaks in Franz Joseph and again in Bruce Bay. The rain started to let up after we drove back down to the ocean at Bruce Bay, and it finally quit when we were within about a half hour drive from Haast.
Our accommodation was a one-bedroom apartment at the Bay Road Motels, about a 10-minute drive south of Haast. It had a small kitchen and very good wifi reception, which was important since there was no cell phone service in this remote area. It was in a very quiet and peaceful location.
After we checked in, we drove back north into Haast to the visitor center to obtain some information on the local hikes and things to do in the area. We were hoping to arrive before it closed at 4:30, but we did not take into account some road work that had up to 20-minute delays. Unfortunately we got stuck with the maximum delay which had us arrive after closing time. Fortunately I was able to find most of the information that I was looking for on the hikes posted just inside the windows, so I took pictures of all of the descriptions.
I walked a short trail behind the visitor center and encountered a kereru bird (New Zealand pigeon) that decided to perch in a tree very close to me.
The weather was clearing nicely, and there were large patches of blue sky. I took some photos of the surrounding mountains.
We decided to check out Haast Beach. We found a small pullout just across the street from the Haast Beach Motel that had a path to the beach. A sign in front was marked Private Property - restricted access, please keep the gate closed. A fence ran down each side of the path. We debated what "restricted" meant, and we thought it was just a warning to stay on the path. We found out the hard way this was not the case: after we returned from the beach, the owner met us and scolded us that we were indeed on private property. He was not very nice at all. I apologized profusely and he calmed down a bit. Afterwards Heinrich found the path on a map, and it was marked for public use. We speculated the owner just did not want any outsiders to park across from his hotel. But seriously, if he wanted to keep people out, why not just put a lock on the gate?
The beach itself was quite nice with some gray sand and driftwood. The entire area was remote with very few people.
Back at the apartment we had chicken and pasta with honey mustard sauce and a salad for dinner.
