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Published: December 11th 2007
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Steven's Ride The Franz Joseph Glacier
After we arrived back in Queenstown, we had our fill of pizza and our first of many tastes of Monteith's beer. Our rental car, that we picked up the following morning, was a hatchback Corolla and was Steve's dream car. He loved everything about it including backing up, as did the culvert and PBC pipes he would later encounter. Within minutes we grew accustomed from driving on the left side of the road, and Steven was acclimated to the road conditions (windy, narrow, steep roads with many entrance obscured one-way bridges). As we continued through central New Zealand to the west coast, the roads made Erin feel ill. All she could think about was a car coming around the extremely tight corners and crossing the center line and sending her and Steven flying off the road and into the cavernous valleys below. Driving was definitely the most anxiety filled part of the trip for her and not all the Dramamine in the world could save her.
After hours of exhausting driving, we arrived in the tiny seaside village of Okarito that is just emerging onto the tourism scene and found our accommodations, the
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Tight squeeze Cedar Cottage. It was a great place to stay and catchup on some laundry. Some of our most memorable experiences stem from this tiny town of 35-40 people. Our first adventure was a full day hike on the
Franz Joseph Glacier. We arrived at the guide office at 8:30 am and were warned of the dangers and physical aptitude required to complete the hike. This was the only activity we participated in where we had to sign a waiver; and this worried us because we were still sore and tired from the Milford Track. We were sized for our gortex jackets, pants, boots, crampons, hats, and mittens and boarded a bus to the base of the glacier. After a 3 km brush walk we stood at the base of the glacier, admired the vastness, and fastened our crampons to our boots. The guides checked them over throughly and we began up the steep hand-carved steps of the glacier. It was truly an icy paradise unlike anything we have ever seen. We entered narrow crevasses with water streaming down both sides that were so tight even we had to pass through them sideways. As we ascended up the glacier, the ice in many areas
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I have superior cliff hanger skills was the rich blue that we thought only existed in the pages of National Geographic.
Our concerns over the difficulty of the hike subsided as we progressed through the intricate ripples glacier stopping every couple minutes for the guide to cut more steps or assess the safety of the next area to come. We had to constantly remind ourselves that the glacier is changing rapidly with new hidden water ways being carved and new areas of instability developing every day. Fortunately, about halfway up the face, we were given ice picks and these kept us entertained while waiting to proceed to the next area. We had plenty of time to take amazing pictures and practice our Cliff Hanger moves. The only unpleasant part of this experience was that were without a bathroom for 8 hrs and one of us had drank a substantial amount of coffee that morning. The last two hours were a bit more pain filled then one of us would like to admit but he reports that the glacier was not tainted.
The Kiwi Tour
While planning our stay in Okarito, we received an email about a
Kiwi Tour where a guide could
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base camp in Okarito take us on a night hike to see a
Kiwi in the wild. We didn't think much of it at the time, but when we arrived in this Okarito we realized that this is a once in a lifetime opportunity and we
must do it. So, we stopped by Ian's house (the guy who runs the tour) and his enthusiasm convinced us that this was a crucial part to our New Zealand for experience. (A kiwi is the endangered flightless bird that is the national symbol for New Zealand. Most people in New Zealand have never seen a kiwi in real life.)
At 8:00 the following night we arrived at Ian's house dressed in warm clothes. We received a bright yellow vest with reflective stripes because it was hunting season, a flashlight to signal to quietly to each other, a whistle to signal less quietly to each other, and a mosquito hat. Steven was designated as the co-guide so he received additional roles that went above and beyond the rest of us. He was in charge of the walkie talkie and the red flashlight. Ian gave us several facts about kiwis including that they have whiskers, mate for life,
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Drive slowly have body temperatures close to mammals, lay massive eggs, and have territories the size of 100 football fields so they are practically impossible to find. Luckily, Ian has spent enough time monitoring the 4 pairs of kiwis in the area to know where are most likely to find them. He is the only individual licensed by the government in the south island to provide kiwi tours. With this designation came several rules that had to abide by. We could not call them or lure them with food and we could not take pictures or disturb their habitat in any way. We were essentially trying to see a kiwi in the least evasive way as possible by just waiting quietly for them and hoping that they cross our path. Each of us (9 in total counting Ian) was in charge of monitoring a certain area on this path that was part of a national park. When we heard a kiwi call we would point to where we thought the call was coming from. Then, we would triangulate to get a distance and more precise location and wait until we heard their footsteps. In the beginning of the tour, we were told
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Kiwi tour map and results that they sounded like a human walking through the brush, but we didn't believe it since they are birds and supposedly more dainty than humans. So, we were listening for the slightest movement in the underbrush and then would ponder whether or not it was a kiwi. Finally, we heard the distinctive kiwi call and eventually their footsteps. But, then the kiwi froze and didn't move for 10 minutes. We were just about to give up and move on when out from under the brush came a kiwi, named BZ, running across the path. Our efforts paid off and it was well worth it. The 3 hours in the cold dressed in silly garb pacing back and forth were well spent.
Monteith's Brewery
We left Okarito and headed north along the coast to Punakaiki and stopped in Greymouth to tour the local brewery.
Monteith's Brewery has the reputation of being one of the better craft beers in New Zealand. They used to be a family owned operation until DB bought them out a couple years ago. Most of the employees have stayed and the place still has an intimate vibe. There are 9 full time employees and
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drink it quickly before it overflows! when they start a batch, they all follow it all the way to the bottling stage. We found it amazing that the brewery still loads six packs by hand! You really get the feeling that the employees are extremely dedicated the the place, one of the guys we ran into on the tour, Foxy, they called him, had been working there 42 years. Apparently someone offered him a job when he was 16 and he has been there ever since. At the end of the tour they let us try all of the beers and then we got to pour a glass our selves. It was damn good beer. After the tour we headed to the grocery store to stock up on Monteiths before we heading up the coast to Punaikaiki to check out the
Pancake Rocks. There really isn't too much to say about those, but things do start to get interesting again when we head up the the
Golden Bay.
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Kevin
non-member comment
wow!!!
Looks like you had some pretty stunning weather in the pancake rocks picture and the base camp in Okarito. I thought Monteith's was the best beer I had while in NZ. Did you also try Tui? That's what made Jeremy puke until his nose started bleeding... he claims this to be my fault somehow.