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Published: April 29th 2005
Putting our feet up after a long day's driving
Watching another beautiful sunset in the van on the west coast near Punakaiki.After picking up some supplies and sorting ourselves out we set off south, first inland and then past lake Rotoiti towards the west coast of the South Island - past the Kilkenny lookout in the Buller gorge (see picture of Sarah enjoying the view there). It was a long day's driving and not doing too much apart from functional stuff. We ended up on the coast near the village of Punakaiki where we spent the night.
The Pancake Rocks at Punakaiki In the morning we decided to visit one of the famous local landmarks, the Pancake Rocks and accompanying blowholes. The pictures don't do justice to this particular natural feature which is a special coastal area where ancient sedimentary rock has lifted clear of the level of the sea forming 100 foot cliffs. The exposed rocks look like stacked pancakes and are eroded in a very interesting way. The local conditions, namely that the whole coast is constantly pounded by the Southern Ocean's massive waves, have also formed some huge blowholes - holes which vent water forced up with high presssure by the ferocious waves thundering into the cliffs below.
The holes really do spew a large amount of water,
Enjoying the view
Kilkenny lookout on the Buller Gorge and looking down into the abbyses below filled with white water is a pretty awe-inspiring sight - especially as we were there at high tide, with a North-Westerly swell - and with rain it was really quite a spectacle.
As a side-comment, a tornado actually passed through the town of Greymouth that very morning we went through. Our timing must have been slightly off (unfortunately) as we didn't see it, but we saw it on the news later that day in a "That's where we were" moment.
So further south and a quick stop at Hokitika On the way further south along the coast, we stopped in a town famous for its Pounamu, or NZ greenstone. This transparent stone was traditionally worked by the Mauri into jewelery and weapons. It took Sarah's fancy so we decided to stop for lunch and also buy a piece in Hokitika - a small fish-hook pendant.
The Glaciar Region Driving onwards in the afternoon took us further down the coast (in torrential rain) to our planned destination - the famous Franz-Josef glaciar (or to be precise, the town of Franz Josef). We got to the visitors' centre just before it closed to
The first of many comical signs in New Zealand and Australia
We had to stop and reverse the van to take this photo, we thought it was great - no sign of any penguins though. be told that the path up to the glaciar had been damaged by the rain and we wouldn't know if it would reopen until the rain stopped. We took the call to drive further on, skipping the Franz Joseph glaciar altogether and pushing on towards the Fox glaciar.
Another breathtaking spot We awoke to a clear, calm day - the intense rainstorm that caused the tornado further up the coast had deposited snow high on the surrounding mountains. How lucky for us?
We followed the plan to visit the renowned Lake Matheson - as you can tell from the pictures, it is renowned primarily for the near-perfect reflections of the Southern Alps you get from various different points on the hour-long walk around the lake.
We then proceded along a coastal road about 20 kilometres in order to see the glaciar from a distance (we'd not seen it yet). At Gillespies beach, a short walk along behind the dunes took us to a point where you could see the glaciar. Instantly, as I watched in awe, I understood what glaciars are all about - a river of ice. Not before had I understood this; the glaciar Perito Moreno in
Blowhole
A huge blowhole at the Pancake Rocks near Punakaiki. Patagonia was only seen from the front - its particular attraction being the way it calves ice fiercely into the lake below.
Some bacon sandwiches later, we drove up the glaciar road to take a closer look before setting off further south towards the small village of Haast and the Haast pass - the only road for a
long way that traverses the Southern Alps. We dined at a gorgeous spot just past the pass and then drove more into the night - to about 50 kilometres short of Queenstown, before going to bed.
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