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Published: February 14th 2011
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The West coast: Murchison, Cape Foulwind, Hokitika and Franz Josef
Thursday 3rd February
Left Nelson to drive to Murchison. Stopped on the way for a short walk at St Arnaud. We are now in high country with steep valleys and beautiful hills.
Arrived in Murchison and found our B+B – very plush with four rooms and a big lounge area. We are the only people staying so have the lounge to ourselves. Walked into town and had dinner in a converted petrol station – great big slices of meat pies and bottles of local beer.
Returned to B+B to find complimentary homemade damson liquor. Going to try making some of that when we get home.
Friday 4th February
Borrowed mountain bikes from our hosts at the B+B. They were heading to Nelson for the day to go to the Dentist for a check up. It makes you realise how close everything is in the UK – I wouldn’t want a 2 hour car journey with toothache.
Our bike journey consisted of a 15mile loop which was half on dirt road and the return on tarmac. We made a couple of stops on route to do 90 minute walks up
the hills. The first climbed up to the ridge for views of the Murchison Valley. The second walk went through a dark forest ( lots of ents and hobbits running about ) to emerge at the base of a half mountain. The other half fell over in an earthquake in 1926. The valley floor was strewn with huge chunks of rock. Geology on a grand scale!
Had to cross a privately owned suspension bridge half way round the loop. It was so narrow the handle bars wouldn’t fir between the supports. Couldn’t decide which was worse the violent up and down motion or the swinging from side to side. Just don’t look down ( the decking seemed to be held together with optimism ).
In the evening we drove 20 minutes back towards Nelson to a pub that was run by a couple from Hong Kong. Had a really tasty plate of Chinese food and watched some of the Wellington rugby sevens on the bar telly. Julia leafed through some local magazines – check the photo for the title – it’s probably published by IPC ( Sally can confirm/refute! ). The sevens is a big event where the whole
crowd wear fancy dress. A group of 20something girls dressed as circus ringmasters were interviewed. Asked about their costumes they replied that they were wearing Jangals ( that’s NZ speak for flip flops ) so that they didn’t look tarty! Julia is keen to try this fashion tip when she gets home.
Saturday 5th Feb
Drove to Cape Foulwind through the Buller Gorge. Great scenery and brilliant sunshine – as we approached Westport the mist drew in. Our motel was scenically positioned outside the town near the coast – but we did not see the sea for two days. Walked a whole 50 yds to the nearest (only) pub for supper – great food and wonderfully friendly NZ hosts.
Sunday 6th Feb
Raining all day.
Drove north to visit Dennison mine workings where displays and information were surprisingly interesting even in the drizzle. They used to haul coal down the Dennison incline - a very steep rail line that drops 500m in altitude. After poking around there, we carried on driving north and were looking for a walk start point when we drove up to the entrance of the working open cast mine. We were just going to
turn around when the Kiwi lady security guard jumped out of her office and started chatting. She was very helpful – like most people we have met in NZ and told us about the mine, the day trips you could go on if the weather was ok, advised us not to bother with the walk and gave us tips on where to eat dinner at Cape Foulwind (at the pub we went to the night before).
She then offered to show us a quick film about the mine. It was raining more heavily by this time and we had nothing better to do so we said yes. She handed us over to one of her mates who proceeded to show us the Health and Safety video for visitors to the mine. I am not exactly sure how I will use my new knowledge of the PPE (Personal Protective Equipment) requirements to visit a open cast mine ! but I am sure it will come up in a Quiz Night somewhere and we did see some good shots of the mine workings and the huge trucks they use to haul the coal out. The guy showing us the film was also
a mine (ha ha) of information so we spent another 30 minutes chatting to him about how the mine worked, what type of coal they extracted, how they were reinstating the bush after mining was complete. They have a billion tons of coal left and it’s going to takeover 20 years to extract it. We will have a chance to do the proper mine tour next time we are passing.
Monday 7th Feb
Still raining and we were aiming to be at the Pancake rocks at high tide (2pm) so took things slowly this morning and the skies slowly cleared. Pancake rocks have weird rock formations and great blowholes which perform best at high tide. Then drove south towards Hokitika.
Had a chance to test our full waterproof gear at the Rocks and watched the watched the blowholes.
As we watched the blowholes the rain stopped and as we headed south the sun came out – the Holiday is back on track.
Arrived in Hokatita which has really wide streets. Our motel is on a street 20 metres wide – more than six lanes and no traffic!
Tuesday 8th Feb
Lazy day – Julia has finally
admitted she needs a hair cut – dropped into the local salon and managed to get an appointment for tomorrow. Spent the rest of the day driving around. Stunning gorge with a suspension bridge , waterfall, scenic lake, gold mine working – pretty stand NZ stuff. Rounded the day off with a curry – perfect.
Wednesday 9th Feb
Julia has been shorn and is safe to drive again - £15 for a wash and cut!
Headed south towards glaciers towns of Franz Josef and Fox. As we approached FJ, the call of nature ( too much breakfast tea ) drew us off the main road to a picnic site where there was a company advertising helicopter flights over the glacier. As the weather was clear we decided to go for it and spend a horrible amount of money on a 40 minute flight – but it was worth it. Flew over the peaks and the FJ and Fox glaciers – taking far too many photos on the way. Drove into FJ and had a late beery lunch in the pub before checking in to our motel. Later went for walk to the face of the FJ glacier before fish
and chip supper – saving the pennies after the chopper flight!.
Thursday 10th Feb
Drove to Fox and Lake Murchison to take photos of the reflections of Mount Tasman and Mount Cook. Unfortunately clouds blew in before we got there so the views were not so good. Walked up the Fox Glacier view path which should take 45 minutes to reach a viewpoint – which is fine as long as you can get across the rivers. The first crossing was fine – hopped from rock to rock (well Peter hopped, I stepped and flailed my arms a bit) - but the second river was a different case. We followed another couple of walkers about 150yds upstream only to then watch them inch across a fallen tree that looked really dodgy to us. So we went on another few yards and then decided enough was enough and jumped between two large rocks ( Julia very brave! ). Only took us about an extra 30 minutes. On the way back we decided that direct was best and just waded across where the flow wasn’t too fast. Sat down and wringed out our socks and then squelched our way back down the
rest of the path.
Back at the car we were going to go to a lookout but the path was closed because the DOC rangers were going to dynamite a rock. What a bang! There must have been people all over the valley diving for cover.
Friday 11th Feb
Up early so as to get back to Lake Murchison before the clouds bubbled up – lovely clear morning with no wind so great shots of the mountains – as long as the ducks stopped swimming and making ripples. The photos really don’t do the view justice. Late cooked breakfast in Fox before heading south and inland towards Wanaka.
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Sally Williams
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Aptly Named Place
Can't imagine why they named it Cape Foulwind!! I have very few photos from my trip down the west coast of South Island due to all that weather.