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Published: January 22nd 2008
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We had a relatively long drive to Franz Joseph. As in much of Arkansas, distances have no real meaning. The North Island roads are similar to HWY 65 north of Conway to Branson. The East coast of the South Island is like the Pig Trail on the way to Fayetteville or the roads leading into Eureka Springs. I am thankful that we first cut our teeth on North Island driving. The South Island throws in other variations to one lane bridges and roads. We have become blasé to uphill and downhill approaches to one lane bridges. We have nearly mastered the one lane bridge that curves at the end into a blind corner that must be navigated with the use of a posted convex mirror. In the South Island, each bridge required different skills. It is similar to algebra; each lesson plan builds on the next. (Sarah - Yeah, and we all know how well I understand algebra! I have a system for driving now. When I hear Mark sharply suck in his breath, I veer slightly to the center. If my right arm gives me a wee shock, I veer slightly to the left. This system has kept us alive
Bridge Sign
There was a railroad track on this bridge. This sign warns bicyclers not to fall in! and rolling. It is only when my kids look up from their Ipods and start yelling that I just close my eyes and accelerate through it.) We were challenged with the one lane, one km S-curve road with no mirror plus a shear vertical dropoff and no guard rail. We easily negotiated the one lane road for the next 8 km. How would you like to travel across a one lane bridge shared with a train track and no crossing guard barriers or light system? How would you like to meet a tour bus inside a one lane tunnel that has stoplights that are out of sync? I can personally testify that the power of prayer works.
On the way to Franz Joseph, we made a few stops. First we drove to Punakaiki, home of the Pancake Rocks and Blow Holes. No one knows exactly how the rocks formed, but there are reasonable theorys. I will spare you. Basically, these large rock formations along this stretch of coastline resemble…well…er… pancakes. We dined at a café just outside the park and I ate…pancakes. Next stop was Greymouth, a larger city, where we primarily were interested in doing some banking. We
Franz Josef Glacier
They had closed this glacier to foot traffic because it was moving. needed to exchange currency for some of the kid's Christmas loot. Ben needed to restock his tackle box, which is the box his new iPod came in. Greymouth is a creative name because it is a city located at the mouth of the … anyone?…come on this is easy…anyone?…the mouth of the Grey River. It is not a bad place, but that is all that I can think of interesting to say about it.
Franz Joseph is one of the two main places with easy access to glaciers. We hiked to the terminal face of the glacier on the first evening that we arrived. On the following day, Dec 29, we attempted to book one of the helicopter flights to the upper portion of the glacier, but all spaces were taken and the standby list had about 70 people on it. We headed on down the road to Fox Glacier and also hiked to the terminal face. These are actively moving glaciers, and falling rock and ice can be viewed up close. I thought that I would be under-whelmed at first, as the bottom layers resemble the icy snow banks found pushed up at the end of large parking
Fox Glacier
View from Lake Matheson lots in Midwestern US cities. The scale is quite a bit different, as they are higher than any mountain in Arkansas. The upper reaches have a bluish tint when reflecting the sunlight. (Sarah - When we first viewed the Franz Josef glacier, I did not realize the scope. You really have to walk down towards the base to get the true feel of how gigantic these things are. There are signs every few feet telling you how you could die from viewing the glacier. But all the other tourists are climbing over there! Grace and I picked our way over the river looking for greenstone and found some really pretty pieces. All worth the risk and Uncle Ken would be proud of the photo op we afforded.)
By late afternoon, we were on our way to Makarora through the spectacular Haast Pass. Makarora is located in the Siberia Valley and looks towards the Mount Aspiring National Park. This has to be my favorite name for a national park. We had luxurious accommodations at the Makarora Wilderness Resort described as having self-contained chalets. This proved to be an impressive description for a 12 x 14 A-frame without an ensuite toilet.
Pancake Rocks
Parakaiki, New Zealand However, the toilet was just a short walk away. I could tell that this did not meet Grace’s usual high standard, but she rolled with it. The Resort Restaurant will not likely get a Michelin rating any time soon. All I can say is that it made me long for the St. Joseph’s breakfast in the doctors’ lounge with the poached eggs that have been sitting under a hot light in a puddle of water for five hours. It doesn’t matter. We are not here to savor New Zealand cuisine. We can eat when we get back to the US. (Sarah - Okay, I bombed here! I kept thinking that surely our "chalet" was around another corner. We made the best of it and Grace even made the comment, "I kind of like this place in a camping way". We did a short hike to a nearby river, the Blue Pools Walk. Deep pools of crystal clear blue colored water greeted us at the end of the walk. Think: Easter egg dye. It is so blue it looks fake! Even the walk in to this area looked like a movie set. It was getting late in the day so we
missed the opportunity to get good pictures. The best part was the deep pool with the rainbow trout swimming around. You could see every detail. It reminded me of the crystal blue water of the Abacos.) The large rainbow trout were relaxing themselves while out of the main flow of the river. The sign said NO FISHING and Ben was sad.
Sarah scheduled our participation in the Siberian Experience on Dec 30. This includes a thirty minute plane ride between mountain peaks in Mt Aspiring Nat’l Park. Upon landing in Siberia Valley, we forded a glacial creek, and hiked three hours through the bush. (Sarah - The coldness of the creek cannot be described except to say that before we got to the other side, Grace was crying and I was about to. Only in the last few steps did our legs get numb enough to lessen the pain. Did we mention how tough these people are down here? I mean, this is where they bring tourists! We were proud to say we did it and our Christmas socks were a welcome relief on the other side!) Upon completion of the hike, we ended upstream. Once there, we boarded
a jet boat that blasts up and down the river obscenely fast nearly missing several obstructions on the way. Occasionally, we were subjected to 360 degree spins. It was lots of fun and adds just enough of that element of danger to an otherwise ho-hum day. Sarah and Grace grinned and giggled the whole time. In reference to our good friend Bob Moffat, Ben remarked, “I don’t know. After riding in a boat with Dr. Bob all summer, I just didn’t find it all that scary.”
That evening, we were too tired to dress for formal dinner, so we dined in our room. Afterwards, we again played Monopoly. This time Sarah became a trillionaire, and I think she now owns the deeds to our souls. (Sarah - As with everything else kiwi, the Monopoly game has a higher cost of living as well. The rent for most of my property was around $20 thousand. When you pass GO, you get $2 million. I love this game!)
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Jennifer Eubank
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Reading your Christmas adventures
I for one have been fascinated by your NZ adventure. Dr. Russell and I were just talking about you today in.... the doctors' lounge! Your comment about those sunburned poached eggs that have been under the lights too long was so true. We miss you around here, but are enjoying reading about your adventures - and look forward to more stories when you return.