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Published: March 2nd 2008
Me and Margreeth in Barrytown
Dressed up in Barrytown. Can you see the shoulder pads on my ladies shirt? Pretty sweet!There are loads of sights to see while heading down the west coast of the South Island from Abel Tasman National Park to the famous Franz Joseph and Fox Glaciers. One of the first stops that we made was at Lake Rotoroa. I hiked a very short hike near the scenic mountain lake. Here I had my first encounter with the dreaded sand flies. I have heard many stories about the sand flies that pester everyone along the west coast of the South Island and I had been told that the sand flies begin to be pests in Abel Tasman. They had not been much of a bother there so I was hoping that the stories were exagerrated. Well there were swarms of them at Lake Rotoroa! I was not well prepared and got eaten up. I will have to be better prepared now since the bites itch like crazy and the sand flies are supposed to get worse further south.
Moving on. The drive through the Buller Gorge was beautiful. After heading out of the gorge the Tasman Sea comes into view. Another amazing sight. The drive down the coast is very scenic and brings a smile to your
Birthday boy Mark in Barrytown
Picture showing the bar in Barrytown. The picture was taken just after the birthday shot. face just thinking about being here in New Zealand. Beautiful views, good weather. Not much more you could ask for. The next stop down the coast was in Punakaiki and the pankake rocks. The sea has formed some cool formations in the rock here due to the surf that comes through here. There are blowholes here as well where the water shoots up through the rocks and splashes everywhere. Our timing was poor for seeing the blowholes at full splendor since the tide was low.
Barrytown (or Baz-Vegas, don't know why) was the stop on the way from Abel Tasman to the Glaciers. There is absolutely nothing in Barrytown. Nothing. The hostel has a bar and the bar hosts activities to keep people happy. Everybody dressed up, the guys had to dress in drag (for cheap drinks) and the girls dressed up as well. The outrageous lingerie outfit in the picture was provided by the girls to a guys who was celebrating his birthday. It was pretty funny and the costumes made for a good night.
The next stop was Franz Joseph Glacier. There are two glaciers in New Zealand that are easily accessable to the public and
Me and Sarah in Barrytown
Picture of Sarah and I hanging out in Barrytown. Check ut the pink skirt! therefore, there are many guided tours up onto the glacier. One of the glaciers is Franz Joseph Glacier, the other is Fox Glacier. I decided to go ahead and do the hike up Franz Joseph Glacier since it is steeper, and therefore a little more spectacular. I have been on many glaciers before and have done some snow climbing, so I knew what to expect. We had to hike up a glacial stream to the face of the glacier. There are lots of tourists that do guided hikes up the glacier, so several guides had gone ahead to cut steps into the face of the glaciers. This made it easier for the groups behind to move along. After putting our crampons on, we had to climb up these "stairs" of the face of the glacier. The stairs were steep and there were rope handrails that we had to use to ensure that we did not fall back and fall all the way back down the face of the glacier. These handrails had also been anchored into the mountain by the lead guides when the steps were cut that morning. Since I don't have the longest of legs, some of the
Group shot in Franz Joseph bar
Margreeth, Joost, Mark, Bert and I in Franz Joseph hanving a good time. stairs were challenging and the rope was very necessary. Once on top of the glacier's face, we worked our way up the glacier further winding our way around crevasses (deep cracks in the ice). Our guide walked our group (of 11 people) around exploring the glacier and cutting steps as necessary along the way. We walked on the glacier making our own path for most of the afternoon. Our guide found a couple of ice caves in the glaciers that made for good photo ops. After tooling around on the glacier for some time, it was time to head back down. It was a good hike despite some of the rain that we got while we were on top of the glacier.
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josh
non-member comment
buff
I thought you were looking a bit buff in the first picture...maybe I need to get some shoulder pads! Bring back the eighties?