I will complete an 8 day hike on March 7th, ending in Queentown at 4pm. I am considering immediately leaving for Fox Glacier which I thought was a 4.5 hr drive. Will I be able to make this drive in daylight if I leave at 4pm and how difficult is the drive? I have to come back to Queenstown to catch a flight at 4:30pm on March 9th, so I don't have much time which is why I was leaving directly after the hike. Am I trying to do too much and is it worth it? Is it possible to hire a car/driver to take us? I do have a car on hold but someone said the drive is complicated.

Thanks,

Hi,

Am I trying to do too much.....yes.... and is it worth it?..No!

Mind you this is coming from the Queen of "I want to do it all!"

We drove from Fox Glacier to Queenstown early Jan '09. The road is a rather narrow two lane road in many places, with lots of curves and lots of traffic. It took us over seven hours and we only stopped for gas, a picnic and a couple of pictures. It is a scenic drive that can't really be rushed.

There are many things of interest around Queenstown. It is a beautiful area. Definately worth some time.

You have 48 hours from hike to plane. I would not want to be at Fox Glacier and have to be on a plane in Queenstown by 4:30 nor would I want to drive the road to Fox Glacier after dark.

Please don't attempt this lisa, it just doesn't make sense and is a poor use of your limited time IMO.

The drive from QT to Fox is 381 km - that's between 5.5-7 hours depending on stops. The road is generally one lane in each direction and it's very winding. It's not what I'd call complicated, but it's not a drive I'd personally want to undertake after a long day of hiking. Or in the dark! The sun sets at around 7:15 pm that time of year, so a good portion of your drive there would be in the dark. As the scenery is the main draw, where's the logic in that?

You'd have a full day to spend at Fox, but because the weather is iffy at best year round, you're taking a big chance that you'd be driving all that way for nothing.

There's loads to do around QT - the short 40 minute drive to Glenorchy is as much of an eye popper as the drive to Fox.

How about taking the Dart River Safari, or the Shotover Jet, or bungy jumping, or taking the trip up to Skippers Canyon, or taking a winery tour, or driving the 30 minutes to Arrowtown, or the 90 minutes to Wanaka?

SO much to do, no need to make the long trek to see a glacier that could very well be anti-climactic.

Are you hiking the Milford or the Routeburn?

I also would recommend against this. I think you will find the drive more like 6 hours, even with minimal stopping. Mel has some good suggestions.

Also if you're flush with cash, I think you can do a glacier flight/landing from Queenstown, however these are weather dependent. But March is as good a bet as any.

http://www.glaciersouthernlakes.co.nz/queenstown.asp

Forgot about that. I do remember seeing some tour operators offerring flightseeing around QT. That way at least if it was a good day you would see it, and if not, you won't have wasted your time.

The weather is iffy much of the time seems like, we spent the night at Fox Glacier and it was hidden in the clouds and rain while we were there.

Thanks everyone. I'm going to follow your advice. The last day of the hike is no big deal and we (Ultimate Tours) will be driving from Glenorchy after the hike to get to Queenstown. I will look into other options such as the glacier flight from Queenstown or horseback riding etc. Google maps doesn't tell it like is so I am glad I have you people. It sounds like it would have been a nightmare. My son would probably prefer to hang at a pub anyway and I know he wants to do the bungee jumping.

Thanks again!