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Saturday 5th May 2007....
Feeling a little delicate on saturday we woke to brilliant sunshine. Armed with a bag full of sweets, a digital camera and a few over night clothes (which was to screw us over later) we headed towards the Alps along Highway 73 around 10am!!
We were going straight in between them and the closer we got the more amazing they looked! These mountains stretch for miles and the real big ones are snow covered.
We couldn't help but constantly stop and get out to take photos the nearer we got! The views we're awesome and Gill is a dab hand with the camera and got some cracking shots! I left her to the photos as my attempts were laughable! We headed through shantytowns (one called 'Sheffield', which was literally a shop, few wooden houses and a dodgey old motel) and into the Alps!
This took us about an hour or so and the views are amazing! Untouched fields leading up to huge mountains covered in snow! The sun was shining through and the drive flew by! Moving through the Alps, we arrived at Arthurs Pass were we stopped to grab a bite to eat. This
was in the middle of nowhere, a few houses, a cafe and bar! After chilling there we noticed parrots outside and Gill managed to grab a few pics of them, properly known as Alpine Parrots, before I scared them off by trying to offer them food and making funny churping noises! Here it starting raining and it it slung it down!
We carried on now deep into the Alps, driving through valleys and creeks and moving into the lush forest! We were actually in the National Park and made our way to Greymouth.
Arriving at Greymouth and the coast (!!) we realised that Greymouth was pretty much that-GREY. Town with no-one about, so we checked our maps and headed north towards Punakaiki, for the Pancake Rocks and Blowholes!
Now we were on the coastal road with the beach to our left and the rainforest to our right. It was a surreal feeling being so close to both. This drive took about an hr passing Cows with coats on (Gill couldnt stop loving them!) and warning signs that looked like Penguins crossing! We hit Punakaiki about 3.30pm. It was again a road, with a few houses, cafe, hostels but much
more tourist based.
After checking out the cafe and visitor centre (for Gill to add to our huge collection of leaflets on stuff to do!) we went into the Pancake Rocks right on the coast. We followed the path round and with a group of over excited Chinese tourists we looked at the crazy rock formations which formed Pancake looking layers of rock in the coastline. The "Blowholes" are when the sea underneath builds up pressure in the caverns below and blasts out water through the blowholes! Sounds awesome, saw bugger all. But the rocks were awesome and we clambered onto them for a better view along the coastline!
We had seen that canoeing was real close by and really wanted to have a go, paddling up the river inland through the rainforest. We found the place but the guy felt that we wouldnt get our full 2 hours as the sun was going down, so (weather permitting) decided that Sunday would be canoeing time!
It was coming to 6pm and decided accomodation was the next port of call. We shamoned a hostel called the Beach Hostel just because it had a free outdoor spa. We were
really roughing it but the room was pretty sweet and had a beach view. It was right next to the beach so we dropped off gear and headed there straight away, with the sun going down, to the beach armed with tennis rackets and balls!
Beach stretched for miles and even though it was going dark and had been raining that day, it was surprisingly warm! It was great getting out onto the beach and barefoot we whacked the ball around for abit. I stacked it in my jeans and got covered in wet sand and chased Gill around!
All this time we were trying to think of how we were going to get in the spa with the clothes we had! Obviously we hadnt brought any swimwear with us (massive mistake-but we know now!) and one towel! So it was decided that I just go naked...no joking, in my boxers and Gill in her pyjamas! It was well funny as we had to walk through the open kitchen down to the Spa with other trekkers looking at us! We got to the Spa and Gill being all brave threw off her PJ bottoms and went in top
and thong thinking she was safe as it was pretty quiet! It was lovely, the sound of waves on one side and the rainforest the other and the gentle patter of rain of our boiling heads....Very refreshing!
It was going real dark and to Gills HORROR more people came down to have a dip after seeing us make the plunge. It was ok because they were 2 lasses but then Gills nightmare grew worse as a lone MALE traveller headed down too! I couldnt stop laughing. After chatting with all of them, tightly squeezed in, we decided to clamber out! Gill nearly pulled my boxers off and she made a hash of trying to get out without anyone seeing her 'lack of' clothes and nearly stacked it on the side! I nearly wet myself! Worse came as we had to walk back to our room through the kitchen. Gill again enjoyed showing them all my bum and when we got back into our room when couldnt stop laughing!
We got ready with the (lack of) clothes left and headed to "The Tavern". A real proper middle of nowhere wooden building, like something you find on the deserted
roads in Texas or something! But inside it was decked out real fine, quite busy and we ordered the steak, straight up with Beers to go! This was a place we felt our mums and dads would love. We watched Rugger (again) on the big TV and planned the next day! We finished off the steaks and headed back to the hostel, a little tired but buzzing on a class day we'd just had!
Sunday 6th May 2007.....
An early start and quick slice of toast at The Tavern we headed up towards the "Fox River Caves". We checked them out at it was an hour or so trek through rainforest to these caves. Sounded real cool and exciting so off we went...into the unknown. I had jeans on and was not in tramping gear!FACT!
The trek was awesome, and before we knew it we were deep into the rainforest. Felt like we were in the Amazon Jungle clambering about over rocks and pools of water. We were right on the edge and any slip could have meant a long fall through the rainforest! Then we saw warning signs telling us basically - it gets tough now,
so go ahead if you want! That made us more excited and we carried on. We had been pararell to the river all the time, but could only hear it...finally we saw the river, snaking through on a bed of white rocks.
We then realised that the warning sign literally meant carry on if you want because the only way to carry on the trek was through the river!! After negotiating the best way to get across, off came the trainers and through the river we went.....and it was ruddy cold - to the bone cold! It went right up to below our knees at times and maneuvering over the rocks we'd managed it...totally sodden! We looked back and were well pleased at our crossing- the tide was pretty fast and high after last nights down pour, and we knew we had to do it again the other way! We carried on through move brilliant rainforest, which was now en-gulfed all around us! And then the river turned up again, blocking our paths! We pissed ourselves again and now trainers on, waided through!
So now wet practically up to our knees we continued, jumping through puddles and clambering
the slippy dried up waterfalls that lead us up to the cave! This we thought may have been a bit more tricky for the more older and experienced family members but still doable!!
Finally hitting the Fox River Caves, we found that they went right into the cliff face and were full of spiders webs and staligmites! We climbed in as much as we could, but we needed a torch and climbing gear to venture through in the depths of the cliffs! After a look round and few sweets we headed back through the rainforest and the way out!!
This journey back we were much more experienced rainforest trekkers (!?!) and got back in half the time, again dominating the river! We loved the whole experience and felt that in the UK anything like this would have been closed or set up much more safely, especially due to the fact we didnt see anyone for hours and any problems you were literally on your own!! The sun was now beaming down on us and we headed for the canoes!
To our massive disappointment the canoeing had been closed due to the flooding over the river! We were
gutted and stumped really....I thought balls to this, its not that bad and tried the intercom to see if there was any hope left!! The bloke came home and we looked at the river and he basically said if you want to have a go....real decent guy. But he felt that we should walk up along the river and judge ourselves how far we'd beable to get inland before the high waters just made it too hard!! After a long long think and look at the river we wouldnt stand a chance....it was just too fast!! It was shit because it looked awesome and the sun was out!!!
A little gutted we got some snap and headed out of Punakaiki around 2.30pm! We knew we'd be back here though, we'd seen this Glow Cave Rafting Experience just up the road and knew that was a must with our families!
After a picnic on the coastal road and being bitten to shreds by Sand Flys we headed out, armed with ice cream, back east but through "Lewis's Pass" which was the more northern east-west highway. This would lead us to the Maruia and Hamner Natural Hot Thermal Springs!
It was more beaut scenery and lush green fields and as the night wore on us (which was around 5-6ish) we arrived at Maruia and then a few hours later, the more touristy and bigger spring, Hamner.
This place looked awesome, more hotels and bars but still in the middle of nowhere! The thermal baths/springs themselves looked just like the outdoor bit at Centre Parcs! The pools looked lush, and that was just the outside baths we saw! Our lack of swimwear meant we'd just be visiting but we weren't bothered, we knew this would be visited again for a much longer period of time!
Leaving Hamner knowing how cool it was there, we again looked back on an amazing weekend...we were buzzing!! It was our first real taste of why we'd come here and was well worth it! It felt like we'd actually been travelling and the thought of work and life was very much removed from our minds!! Theres so much just to look at here, you get carried away by the scenery itself!
We arrived home after a quick food stock up around 9ish, a little tired but totally exhilerated!! We'd planned so much
and realised how easy it is to get from around, we knew the rest of the time here we were gona have alot of fun.......
So if you managed to read all that, that was our first adventure!! Hope it didnt go on a bit but theres so much stuff I don't wana forget I had to put it in! Pics will follow promise!!
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matti boi
non-member comment
does rich still wear short shorts?
hey buddy, glad to hear ur loving it over there! hard to think just 6 months or so ago me and the boys were gunning round those little islands in our unreliable van! sounds like youre having plenty adventures already but get some bloody pics up and going big man! all the best mate, no more pot noodles and a .... for richie rich!