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Published: September 23rd 2006
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Fox Gacier
From A Distance Hi All!!
AS you may be able to guess from the subject title, I've had LOTS and LOTS of FUN this week (the capitals are to stress the inmportance of this!). What have I done, hmm hold struggling to rememberm, my mouths open but its not helping!
Aah yes that's it, right Sunday we left Mount Cook and went to Fox Glacier. We got there in record time and were planning to book a hike on the glacier the next day, but after looking at the promotional photos, we decided that it looked crap and so changed our minds! Luckily, we had driven up to Fox Glacier before we arrived at the hostel, and so took some pictures of the land infront of the Glacier, as its really stunning. Unless you do a heli hike though (that's where they drop you off further off up the Glacier, by helicopter), you only get to see dirty snow, and not the blue ice which glaciers are famous for!! The hostel we stayed at was ok, but I didn't feel settled there at all. The guy was talkative, if a little weird, and as I had swiped a book from the book
exchange without putting one back, I was really scared he was gonna come find me, and show me what 'small town justice was' (i had flashes of the gimp scene from Pulp Fiction!!). He did however, point us in the direction of the local glow worm woods, about a 2 min walk away. Luckily for us, we met an English guy at the start with a torch who was too scared to go in by himself (i kid you not!! He was tall and had grey hair as well, but he was from London, nuff sais!), and so we alled had a sneaky peak together! It was really cool, and saved me paying to see the glow worm caves in the north island!!
The next day we left for Punakaiki and the Pancake Rocks, via Franz Josef glacier, which is pretty much like Fox Glacier, but different. Oh we also stopped off at Lake Matheson, which if you get there before the wind starts, is s mirror lake which wait for it, mirrors the mountains and glacier! We got there a smidge too late, but it was still worth the walk, and after driving a little further, you got
Some Weird Cafe We Didn't Stop In
In this cafe, the big attraction was 'Bush Tucker', and so you could eat things like possum, hmmm tasty! The seats and stools were lined with possum fur!! to see FOx Glacier in all its glory, which I thought was far more impressive than walking across some dirty snow! We had decided to stay in the van this night, and so by doing this, missed out on what looked to be one of the nicest hostels I've seen yet, but never mind! It soon became apparent that Tanja wasn't quite as geared up as I'd hoped for the camping life. Such things as useable pots and pans and a light were not catered for, and so I hate to admit it, but I did sulk jsut a smidge! However, the night wasn't a total flop as we watched the most stunning sunset on Punakaiki Beach and so that made up for any boredom that was later suffered! (in all honesty it wasn't that bad as a Dutch couple were in the campsite and so we could chat to them!). The next we had decided to go to the Pancake Rocks, but it was absolutley chucking it down and so it was spoilt a bit. The Pancake Rocks are made up of layers of rock that look a bit like, you guessed it Pankcakes!! They also have blow holes,
where as the tide comes in or out, water shoots up like a geisher, very impressive!
The Tuesday we headed to Motueka, which is where you access the Abel Tasman National park. The park is famous for its turquiose water, golden sands and crammed-with-tourists walks. WE stayed in a lovely, if not too cosy hostel where they give you free muffins at night, woo hoo! We had wanted to do a four day hike, but the weather was not too good, and we actually are realy unfit, and so we opted for the one day explorer in stead. There are no roads through Abel Tasman, and so you get from one bay to the next by water taxi. On our trip, the taxi takes you up to the top of the park, where you get out for a nose, and then back down to Barker Bay (i think) and then you walk to Torent bay for 2 or so hours. I really enjioyed the walk. The park really is beautiful, and as we are currently just out of season, there weren't too many tourists, well hardly any at all actually! I think 2 hours was plenty though for our
Tanja In The Van
She's a little cramped! first walk.
Getting back into the taxi was really fun. Between tides, the water can rise and fall up to 4.6 metres, and so when we got back into the taxi the tide was out, and we had to wear bright orange water proof trousers to wade across the water! Very amusing!!
Thursday we headed off to Takaka, which is a sleep hippy town in Golden Bay. Again, Golden Bay is an area with lovely blue water and sandy beaches! We detoured on the way to Harwards Hole, which is a giant rock hole that goes down forever. The wood that you have to walk through is beautiful, but really creepy! Its dark, and you get the feeling that things are either watching you or following you! When we had finished looking at the hole and were walking back, we walked bast a young birch tree that had snapped off at the roots! Both of us knew that the tree wasn't broken on the way to the hole, and there was no-one there but us, it was really spooky! So how do we ease the fear? by telling spooky stories of course! Silly, girls! by the time we
Punakaiki Beach
One of my most favourite places, it was sooo beautiful! had passed to couples on the way back and made it back to the van, I was happy to be going again and leaving the spooky wood!! When we got to the hostel, which was lovely and felt like mum's house which made me home sick, we hit the beers straight away, and got slowly toasted in the sunny garden, after which we treated ourselves to the last two Lord Of The Rings! We were the only ones in the hostel, and it was really nice! WE also played Uno, which I actually managed to win at least once, hurrah!
Friday, yesterday, we went horsseriding to Farewell Spit, and predictably today I'm walking like JOhn Wayne! It was really nice though and I really enjoyed getting back on a horse again after several years (it is like riding a bicycle, you never forget!). Afterwards, we went to a beach the name of which I can't remember, and walked miles, well half a mile, across a beautoiful beach to the sea! The wind was reallys trong, and you could see the sand moving across the beach in the sunny, very beautiful, but hard work! To get to the beach, we
had to walk about 20 mins through some sheep fields, and I predictably slipped in cow shit and sprained by ankle, well done Yates! Howver, all of that was worth it, as when I went to explore an inlet int he rocks, I found a whole family of seals playing in a little rock pool! It was amazing, and they didn't rmove away or seemed scred, yet they were only about 1.5metres away! We've saw seals in Abel Tasman. but we were too far away and they were just snoozing on the rocks! These were playing in the water, with sticks and each other, and cathcing fish! It was really really amazing!
Today, we have made our way to Nelson, as per the location on the blog, and tonight we're going out to some hopefully good bars! WE almost had a wee accident coming here though, as the driveway is really steep, and Tanja's first gear and handbrake don't really work, oops! At four o'clock, which is in about 25 mins, they're feeding us free cakes and biscuits yey, more food! Tomorrow, we're heading back to Blenheim via the beach, and then hopefuly start work on Monday, alhtough at
first look there isn't any work to be had, so I might have to rethink my plans!
Anyway, I hope you're all well! I can't believe I'm going to see you all really really soon, I'm so excited!! Let me know what you're all up! Take care
Lots of love
Julie
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leyla
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glad to hear your having fun! Have just written a massive email to you only for it to have vanished as i tried to attempt attaching pics. will rewrite it later. byeeee!