Blogs from West Coast, South Island, New Zealand, Oceania - page 35

Stoppped off at Buller Gorge on our journey down the West coast to walk the longest swing bridge in New Zealand - and at 110metres, it really is pretty impressive - take a look at the photos! It got quite a swing going when we jumped our way across, trying best to send each other falling into the river below! Hokitika is home to the National Kiwi Center, and how could we resist!? It was pretty shabby though, but at least we got to see five of the famous endangered Kiwi birds that were pecking around in the dark enclosure. Unfortunately the piccies havn't come out that well because we weren't allowed to use flash, but at least we've seen them - couldn't really have come all this way and not. 16:00: All of a sudden ... read more

16.10.2005 oddych v Mount Cook Village a cesta na West Coast Najlepsie sa vraj klin vybija klinom a tak poniektori z nas rozchodili unavene svalstvo lezenim na skale. Konkretnejsie Miro, Duncan a Darren potiahli v trojke 4-dlzkovu cestu Red Arret v Mount Cook Village. Ja som zatial vybavovala zanedbanu korespondenciu a ostatne svetske zalezitosti. Hned ako sme zistili, ze k NZ sa blizi dllllllha tlakova vys a predpoved pocasia bola na cely dalsi tyzden neocakavane pozitivna - stale krasne pocasie a bezvetrie - zmenili sme nase plany navratu do Christchurchu a vydali sa na cestu na West Coast, ktory je znamy castym dazdom, nakolko je to prva naraznikova zona pre oblaky z Tasmanovho mora. 17.10.2005 Fox Glacier Prva vacsia zastavka na zapadnom pobrezi bola turisticky rusna osada Fox pozostavajuca asi z 30 domcekov, pricom polovica z ... read more

Climbed the glacier today, am soaked to the skin even in dry clothes as it appears to suddenly be monsoon season! The glacier was awesome, never seen anything like it, also v scary to climb, lots of big crevaces and drops and the odd bridge to cross...... Conviniently the glacier no longer has a nice smooth incline to the top at the start but a vertical face, which we had to climb! Takes a long time as the guides have to cut a path way into the rock with an ice pick, once at the top there are millions of pools filling the crevaces and it can get quite slippery. Definitely scarier than a sky dive! Oh and since everything got wet, my personal attack alarm has malfunctioned and makes a continuous clicking noise, though if ... read more

Great journey today - travelling west. Stopped en-route at Punakiaki to visit the Pancake Rocks and Blow Holes - not the right weather/tidal conditions to see the Blow Holes in action, but the rocks are very impressive nevertheless! Stopped the night in Westport and enjoyed watching the Kiwis thrash the Wallabies to win the Tri Nation! Were included in the activities by the locals who encouraged Craig and I to warble away drunkenly to 500miles on the Karoke!!! Got a round of applause from the not too tone death Kiwis!! Met two smashing ladies Alice and Wilma who we imagined were very wild in their youth!! ... read more

Ended up stopping the night in Haast which was really in the back of beyond! Found out that the locals were actually Whitebait fisherman which was really odd sharing a camp site with these guys! Not a lot to do in Haast really, especially as it insisted in peeing it down for most of the day and night :o) One of the fishermen reassured us that this weather was "only scotch mist" and we should be worried when the rain falls an inch a minute!... read more