Gillespies Beach and the View of Views

One of my first days off in Fox Glacier was an absolute stunner of a day - deep blue sky, not a cloud to be seen, or the smallest puff of wind; it was made for exploring. It'd been a pretty rainy week so I was super keen to get out and check out some gorgeous scenery. The local beach, Gillespies,' is only a half hour drive away over a hill on a small, twisty gravel road, and damn is it worth it!

I hadn't realised when moving here, but the further you head out to the coast in this area, the more the view of the Southern Alps behind you just opens up to one big jaw dropping panorama. It first makes an appearance once you get off the access road and start on the long drive to the car parking area where clearings in the scrub and bush frame it beautifully.

The handful of sheep are hired specifically for photographic purposes

Then you get to the beach. A very pretty beach it is too, with it's pebbles and driftwood and windswept isolation.

But then, then you turn around. Holy crap this view. This view whilst standing on a beach! (Drumroll...)

There are a few walking tracks leading from the car park, mostly heading north along the edge of the beach, and is this is an old gold mining area there are old relics along the way, including old gold dredges (20mins walk), a miner's bridge over a lagoon (1.5 hours return) and a miner's tunnel (2 hours return). Apparently at the end there is even a tiny seal colony (over 3 hours return). On this trip I got to the bridge but next time I'll come prepared for the whole day and try for the seal colony. The best thing about the walk to the bridge though, is that the view of the mountains gets even better. I couldn't believe that was possible, but it was just incredible.

The lagoon

The cool thing about this fantastic place is that it's basically unknown except by people who live in the area, and a bunch of campervan travellers. The car park here is the only freedom camping spot in the whole Fox Glacier area so anyone wanting to camp here would get to experience all this - but it's beauty isn't advertised so it would be an awesome bonus. The sunsets here would be amazing too. I've heard rumours of bonfires on the beach in summer so I'm definitely looking forward to that! I've also heard there is a similar view from the lagoon and beach near Franz Josef so I will have to go and compare.

 

Big old river dredger for gold, left to rust

When I moved here I had no idea that these views existed, so this afternoon spent here was one of the best welcomes the Coast could have given me. I'll be back Gillespies!!