Others have told us that the views are fabulous heading south from Fox Glacier, and we had high hopes. The weather forecast yesterday predicted sunny and clear weather all day today, but we woke to clouds covering the skies, and headed out with hopes for clearing weather during the day.
The earliest part of the ride provided the driest weather, allowing us to take a last look at Fox Glacier as we crossed the bridge south. We’ve crossed quite a few bridges across wide, stony watercourses the last couple days. It’s clear that when rain falls here, or snow melts, or both…the rivers are rushing.
The cloud ceiling steadily lowered during the day, and our views were atmospheric rather than panoramic. The rain fell pretty steadily, and the road was easy but kind of boring in a way. We stopped in Bruce’s Bay to have some coffee and a sandwich at a pop-up cafe, hovering under the awning in the rain.
We met a few official TA Riders who left weeks after us and are now catching us, as well as groups of riders from a Backroads tour, with trailer support. We expected to see the TA riders somewhere down here, knowing that competition for places to stay might increase. One guy stopped and chatted with us, and another barely looked up to our greeting, focused on his task.
We are staying Lake Paringa, at a lodge/campsite that looks abandoned but is just severely neglected. It looks like it was lovely about 3 decades ago, but now ready to fall into itself. The original owners have died and the son rents the place from the new owners, for reasons unknown. The caretaker, an amiable guy named Smoky, is tasked with minimal responsibility in exchange for free rent. He fishes every day. We chatted with him for a while about fishing and hunting, and then chatted with an older woman staying here about the history of the place.
The ground was wet wet wet, and we hunted around for a place to pitch our tent, while the sandflies clouded around us. We are hoping for no substantial rain overnight.
The clouds parted for a bit and we walked to the dock for some pics. I’m sure this could be a nice place, with some care and a break in the weather.
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