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Published: June 23rd 2008
Morning View
Here are the misty mountains that I woke up to find all around me. After driving in in the dark. NZ Day 2
Arthur’s pass
We didn’t wake up at 7:15 like the plan was. When I woke up and looked at my watch it was 9:30. Ooopps! Oh well the breakfast of pb toast was delish and we needed that sleep anyways.
We decided to hike just a little way down the road from the hostel to take a short 1hr (return) hike to the base of the Death’s Punchbowl Waterfall. What the guidebook didn’t say was the hike to the base of the waterfall was up quite a lot of steps which reminded me how out of shape I am, because I was huffing and puffing on the way up. Of course it did make for a more relaxing way back but that’s another story. It was gorgeous!!!!!! Definitely worth the hike to see the falls.
Then we headed back to the car where Sarah took the wheel. We had a slight detour at the beginning because I had forgotten my nalgene on top of the car….But it survived and we managed a U-ey to go back and get it. Then we drove and drove through the beautiful landscape looking at mountains and farmland with lots
Devils Punchbowl
Here is the waterfall that we hiked up a million stairs to get to. of sheep, cows, and deer.
We stopped on a little side road when we saw the west coast and walked to the water. (We were amazed because we had just crossed the entire island in two days. With only about 5 hours of driving.) We walked down the road to the coast and saw the strangest animals in a pasture that we walked by. Whatever they were they were definately checking us out because they stared at us the entire time we walked by. The coast was gorgeous with gray sand and some of the most turbulent and biggest waves I’ve seen. We could see rain coming in from the ocean so we hi-tailed it back to Bessie (we named our car Bessie). And continued on the beautiful drive.
Hokitika
We then stopped at Hokitika a little town that used to be a mining town. There we hit up a bank, a grocery, and an information station (where we booked our glacier hike on Fox glacier for the next day.) It was a nice little town and a fun place to stretch our legs. I took over driving and we continued along the coast for a little longer
Blue Sky
When we came back from the hike the blue sky was out to greet us. before heading inland. The drive continued to be gorgeous views with sprinkling rain coming and going.
Unfortunately we have yet to find a radio station so we have had to fill the time with reading the guidebook out loud and talking or thinking. I stopped on the side of the road to take a picture of an opportune rainbow and several other times. (It has already been so nice having a car because we are going at our own pace and making lots of stops).
Hari Hari
I made an impromptu stop in Hari Hari at a small building with two glass walls that housed a display of a man and his prop plane. The first man to make the flight over the Tasman Sea from Sydney. It had a nice little description of him and his record breaking flight which was a fun read and good break.
Franz Josef
Finally, just before we reached Franz Josef we stopped at a couple lakes for a beautiful view. Ah, it hasn’t sunk in yet that we are in New Zealand but it is beautiful here and amazing views.
We arrive at the hostel and luckily they
The animals
They loved us and stared at us the whole time we walked by. had room for us. We will be staying here for 2 nights and we got a deal on our five share room. There are two empty beds in our room and I haven’t met the other person in there yet but I bet she’s nice. We made mac and cheese from scratch for dinner and had some Red Bush tea infused with chocolate. Now I have a little interneting to do and then early to bed. We are getting up early tomorrow for an “all-day” hike on Fox Glacier. It should be 6-7hours and it will be a blast. Can’t wait…Hope I don’t freeze!
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