Singing in the rain by a glacier ...

That night (Oct 17th) I met German guy called Fredrick who was delighted to be able to have a go on my guitar! He was really good and taught me a lot of stuff, particularly some great songs off 'Into The Wild'. I taught him a couple of songs too and the night seemed to fly by. There was unfortunately one of the tour bus groups in that night who were incredibly loud, they seemed to be touring NZ on some sort of huge piss-up, just getting drunk in every town in NZ seemed to be the plan! Each to their own I guess but it made me all the more glad that I hadn't booked a tour with one of those bus companies!

The next morning (Oct 18th) the plan was to hitch to Hokatika and within a couple of minutes at the hitching spot I'd chosen I got a lift from a nice middle-aged couple (Mary and Brian) from Christchurch. I was sad to be leaving Punakaiki as in terms of the town and what was around it (as opposed to the people I met there) I think it was my favourite town that I've been to so far in NZ. I just felt like pressing on and so I went with it. Anyway this couple were headed to lake Kaniere which conveniently for me involved going through Hokatika. A 2 hour journey in one hitch, not bad! They kindly offered to take me to Lake Kaniere with them and then drop me off in Hokatika on their way back, of course I agreed. Lake Kaniere was stunning, it was really calm so you could see some great reflections in the lake and it was a really peaceful place.

After they dropped me off in Hokatika I searched for the hostel nearest the beach, which turned out to be 'drifting sands' and went there. It was a very small hostel with a capacity of about 10 people. It was very homely! At first I was the only one there but while I was preparing lunch Bruce (from Sommerset) arrived. He was 3 months into a 1 year world trip having already been to Afirca and South-East Asia. It sounded like an awesome trip! After lunch I headed straight for the beach where I spent many, many hours. I spent ages just running around barefoot in the sand breathing in the fresh air before I found a nice rock where I got out my guitar and started composing a new song as the sun set in the distance! It was awesome! On my return to the hostel I just relaxed by the fire and had a long conversation with Bruce before going to sleep.

Next on the list was the Franz Josef Glacier and it's township and so I set off hitching from Hokatika (19th Oct). I was waiting for about 20 minutes with my thumb up when it started to chuck it down with rain but luckily a very nice Kiwi who lives in the Fox Glacier township called Mark picked me up. He knew loads about the local landscape and stuff and he was fascinating to listen to. It was like a free guided tour! He let me know that he was a dog breeder and was going to check out how a couple of his dogs were doing before heading back home to Fox (which is just past Franz Josef Glacier). At one of the stops Mark asked if I'd like to come in for tea and I said yes, I'd be delighted to and so I went in to a nice farm house owned by the lovely Peter and Sonja. Mark had bred a dog for these 2 and it'd turned out to be a fantastic working dog, she'd also just had 3 puppies! It was fascinating to overhear their farming conversation and how proud they were of their animals. They spoke with utter sadness about a storm that had killed 8 of their cows in one night a few months ago. The farm was a dairy farm and this was the kind of farm I'd have no reservations buying dairy products from that's for sure! They took me and Mark on a tour of the farm and we got to meet the 3 puppies who decided they'd all start jumping up and down my left leg while licking it, they were ridiculously cute and playful! Sonja, Peter and Mark discussed some of the recent deaths by the glaciers. A couple had been crushed by falling ice having ignored the barrier and most recently a chap had done one of the walks round the side of the glacier and decided taking a shortcut was the way forward. This was not the case, he fell 8m onto various sharp rocks and broke pretty much every bone in the left-hand side of his body. It all sounded pretty dangerous but I was looking forward to seeing the glacier and would certainly not be taking any shortcuts!

In the afternoon Mark dropped in off in Franz Josef where I went to the lovely glow-worm cottage! I spent the afternoon/ evening uploading all my pictures thus far onto the internet and catching up with various e-mails that needed replying to. There are walks on the glaciers available in the shape of guided tours but they were all around $160 which I was not willing to pay, after all that would keep me sustained for another 5 good days of travelling so I wasn't about to blow it on a 6 hour glacier hike. I decided I'd do the Robert's Point track tomorrow. An 8 hour trek to a great glacier viewing point and back.

Having got to the start of the track (20th October) in the morning it was closed due to flooding but it turned out there was a way to intersect the track by going to the glacier car park (a 1 hour walk away from town) and then crossing a bridge, entering the track after the section that had been flooded. So I set off walking up the road, I put my thumb up and a couple of nice Spaniards drove me to the car-park from where I set off on what was (according to the sign) to be a 5 hour and 20 minute tramp to the view point and back. The 'track' was amazing, I say 'track' in inverted commas because the vast majority of it wasn't a track as such, there were markers telling you where to go now and again but the track was very rocky, involving some pretty tough climbing sections and a good few creek crossings with water gushing past at high speeds! It was amazing, I absolutely loved it. At one point I got to a sign that said 'Experienced parties beyond this point only, unstable ledges and large drops ahead' or words to that effect and I wondered if I'd gone off the track somewhere or something. I turned out I hadn't, it was just the walking track was a pretty advanced one apparently and you could see why. A couple of wrong steps and you could be in trouble, especially considering there was no phone reception out here. I made it to the view point after about 1 and a half hours, so a good 40 minutes faster than the sign had said despite the fact I thought I was taking it pretty easy and stopping at manyu points to admire the amazing views! The view at the end was amazing, you could see the whole glacier reaching up through the mountains into the blue sky. I could even see some of the guided groups going up the glacier, they lookedl ike ants on this massive, massive glacier! I ate my food and sat there for a good 30 minutes completely alone taking in the awesome view. Then an american couple arrived followed by a couple of germans. I took some pictures for them both and off they went, I stayed for around another 30 minutes lying on the table up there soaking up the sun before I set off back down the rocky track.

Within around half an hour I'd caught up the first couple and I went past the german guys just before exiting the track and heading back to the town. Unfortunately I didn't manage to get a lift back to town so had to walk along the road for an hour to get there. All in all I'd spent a good 4-5 hours walking and was feeling pretty tired but I had really enjoyed and I'll certainly be seeking out more similar hikes in the future. In the evening I met a Swedish guy called Nils who I played some of my songs (he claimed I sounded like Eddie Vedder) and we had a long chat about our countries and their differences before heading off to bed.

Next on the list was Fox Glacier (21st October) and so I gathered my stuff and headed out of town to a decent hitch-hiking spot where I was picked up by a couple from Grimsby who were heading to Wanaka in their ridiculously massive campervan. They dropped me off in Fox and I dropped all my stuff off at the Ivory Towers hostel before finding out the about the best hikes around the glacier! I decided I'd do 2 hikes, one to the face of the glacier and one to an apparently great viewpoint of the glacier. All in all it'd be a good 5 hours if not more of walking and I was looking forward to it. The first track was to the glacier face, it took a good hour once again to walk to the glacier carpark where the track started. The walk was impressive though as the road is surrounded by huge mountains that somehow emitted a great sense of freedom. I kept bursting out laughing at random points at how awesome this all was. The walk to the glacier face was only about 30 minutes and once I got as far as the barriers would let me I took a seat on a nice rock and took in the brilliance of what was in front of my eyes. Although smaller than the Franz Josef glacier this one was still very impressive! There were also some pools with the bluest water I have ever seen in them, it was incredible. I headed to the next track and it began to rain prety heavily which was to be expected as this whole area was essentially a rainforest. A lot of the track was surrouded by fantastic overhanging plants so I didn't get too wet. There were a couple of signs that said some of the creek crossing coming up ahead may be dangerous in heavy rain and although the crossings seemed to be getting more and more taxing as I went on they were certainly not dangerous yet (as long as you took care). Eventually though I got to a pretty crazy crossing, water was smashing past these rocks and on first impressions it looked impossible to cross. It din't take me too long to figure out a way across fairly easily with a few jumps. The rain was getting harder and harder and when i made it to the viewpoint the view was very impressive although not as impressive as it would be in the sun as a large cloud was covering up a lot of the glacier! I stayed there admiring the view while getting soaked and then decided I'd best head back. On heading back I got to the clearing in the forest where the tricky corssing was and the rain was coming down beautifully. I spontaneously put my hands in the air, opened my mouth to the rain and let out a loud cry, for no particular reason other than I felt like it, it was amazing. 'This is life' I thought and one of my favourite quotes came to mind.

'If we admit that human life can be ruled by reason, then all possibility of life is destroyed.' - Leo Tolstoy

On my return I sang my way back to the hostel in the pouring rain. A nice couple offered me a lift back to the hostel when they saw me walking, soaked on the side of the road. I thanked them for their kindness but rejected their offer. This was the best walk in the rain ever, I felt high, at one with everything, alive, I cannot really explain it, all I know is it was amazing. Another of my favourite quotes came to mind.

'Some people walk in the rain, others just get wet' - Roger Miller

Peace.

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