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Published: December 5th 2013
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Cheese & Vegimite roll
That's what he's eating not what he looks like. Breakfast on the go Long drive ahead as we are heading off to the Franz Josef glacier, on our way to Queenstown. We set off at 8.50. First stop brumby bakery. I noticed Nelson had one and it's where we picked up the cheese and vegemite rolls in Byron bay. So did the same again for a picnic breakfast enroute. Most people remember scenery, we remember bakeries!
We headed out along the good old state highway 6 initially retracing our steps from the day before. After an hour we stopped at a lookout point for breakfast, though we weren't too impressed by the view (what do you think?) - think we may be getting a bit choosy with our views.
On our way down we passed by Brunner gorge and decided to take a break as my guidebook informed me it was the longest swing bridge in New Zealand. There were lots of other things to do like jetboats and zip wires but we were on a bit of a schedule! And the bridge was only $5. It was good fun and allowed me to take another photo to freak Laura out with!
One thing about this long trip is that I
Breakfast stop
We weren't impressed with the view, but we could be getting picky! shared the driving. Normally I don't drive abroad. One reason is that Ian can't read in a car cos of travel sickness so I am normally in charge of map reading. Not such an issue on this trip as not many roads to decide on. However I normally add the extra info from reading the various guides. As Ian can't do this he just decides to makes it up and for some reason I still fall for it. So when he announced that Ahaura has the largest Chinese population in New Zealand I said "really, I wonder if that due to the gold mining" at which point he just creased up laughing! To be fair the town was only the size of about 20 houses......... Cruel isn't he?
Lunch stop was at a cafe in Moana (run by a couple who lived up to the name of the town). When she asked where we were going I said Arthur's pass and she repilied "why" I started to worry.
So the main reason we are doing this epic journey is that everything I had read had raved about the transalpine train crossing between Greymouth to Christchurch. It's supposed to
Bruner gorge Swing Bridge
Brave boy, but looks worried! be one of top train journeys of the world. Every tour seemed to include it. Every review seemed to rave about it. I wasn't sure if it would be that impressive without snow but what might I be missing....... In the end we couldn't get our plans to work with a one way train journey so we decided to drive part of it (the road follows some of the track); the part from the west coast to just past Arthur's pass village which seems to have the most scenic elements in it.
Moana is one of the train stops and the cafe overlooks the station (it's called the station view cafe) as well as the lake. Nice place to take a break from our mega drive.
From Moana, we headed up to the pass. It is also famous for the Otira viaduct which is good for drivers ( the train goes through a tunnel) ending up at Arthur's pass. Well I'm sorry to say we were a bit disappointed. The scenery was dramatic with rivers of scree coming down the mountain but it was pretty similar to much of what we had driven through already. And we were
Lindsay going solo
.... Not commando on this bridge! still spinning from the sights of the day before. So in the end we stopped for a couple of photo opportunities which I have included and headed back, briefly stopping at Arthur's monument. The pass across the alps was 'discovered' by a man called Arthur Dudley Dobson back in 1864. It's a shame they didn't call it Dobson's pass but then I really would have had to like it!
So back on the road with a quick stop in a town called Hokitika, the town features in the new Booker prize winning book 'The luminaries'. The town bookshop made sure you knew! It's on my kindle list so will have to read it now. However it did not have an ice cream shop so it's not on Ian's list of places to go back to!
As we left Hokitika I took over the last couple of hours driving which really started to take us into the westlands. Full of dense forests and farmlands but very few houses (or cars!).
We finally arrived at our motel in Franz Josef at 18.50. 10 hours and 600 km later! We were staying in a proper motel where you park outside
your room so while I loitered in the car, Ian went to check in. When he came out he had some news. Apparently the weather tomorrow is due to be bad so if we want to see the glacier we should go now!!!! So quick change out of my driving outfit to my walking outfit and we were on our way!
Luckily it wasn't too far to the car park but then we decided that we didn't really fancy the 1 and a half hour walk to the face, especially as it would be dark by the time we got there. So we went for the Sentinel walk instead. Only 20 mins and gave you the best view but was uphill! My calves had a bit of a moan after yesterday but I'm pro uphill walker now. Just do it on tip toes!
Anyway again it was amazing to see but I was a bit disappointed that it didn't stretch down further. However when I saw the pictures of how it had looked at various points in its history it was just a bit heart breaking. They say that 18,000 years ago it stretched to the sea (19
Otira Viaduct
Shot on a delayed timer, you can just see our car if you look closely. km away). But that does sound a long time ago, but when you compare what it looked like in 1950 you start to see the speed of the recession caused by climate change. Now who knows whether it's man or natural the change, but it was a real measurable sight of something that would probably be significantly different by the time my grandchildren see it.
Back at the motel we had a quick shower, popped around the back to a restaurant called 88 which was Asian fusion but also sold the craft beer Ian had tried the night before so he was very happy and even happier 3 pints later!
Fell into bed, ready for another long drive tomorrow to Queenstown
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