Day 52/72: the wettest day ever

Today was so unbelievably rainy. We started the day at Fox Glacier, and drove through the rain until we got to the town on Haast. Haast is scarcely more than a small village but with a few cafés where we could get some lunch. We then decided to drive on through the torrential downpour. The sights along the way were absolutely beautiful, the water pouring off the edge of huge mountains looming ominously grey in the low cloud hanging over them. The rivers running under the bridges we were driving on were already pushing at their banks, and flowing down the roads.

We stopped for a walk at a walk called Roaring Billy Falls. We walked through a thick green forest to reach a space of flat rocks before a river bed. It was a short wade across what seemed to be the overflowing puddle of the river to get to stand under a huge waterfall, which was indeed roaring. We skimmed stones for maybe 15 minutes in the pouring rain, then turned to wade back across the water only to find that it had risen somewhat, and the water was flowing past us quite quickly and already up to above our knees. This left us slightly worried about what would have happened if we'd been skimming rocks for any longer, and whether we would have had to swim back.

Our next stop was 'Fantail Falls'; a normally very delicate waterfall, very famous and a only short walk from the road. Unfortunately, due to the sheer amount of water falling from the sky, the waterfall was just a solid waterfall, not much fantailing going on at all.

We then stopped at the Blue Pools. The Blue Pools are a half an hour walk away through a forest to what are supposed to be crystal blue pools. Unfortunately again, due to the rain, the blue pools were actually just a muddy river. Feeling slightly put out, but laughing at quite how soaking we were from the rain, we headed on to find a campsite.

We have stopped for the night at Lake Hawea, a beautiful lake with mountains all around. We are parked right on the side of the lake, and it finally stopped raining this evening long enough for us to cook dinner and go for a short swim. Apparently tomorrow is going to be even rainier than today, the lady at the campsite informed us, and wasn't terribly amused when we asked if that was even possible. It is in New Zealand apparently.Read more