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Published: January 28th 2008
After a relaxing nights sleep, we set off at about 9am to a place called Cape Foulwinds (no it wasn't named that because people keep farting here, it was because of the strong winds Captain Cook encountered when he sailed here!).
There's a wild seal coloney here and it's so amazing to see them in the wild! On land they are quite lazy and just lie there on the rocks sunbathing, but in the sea they swim almost as fast as dolphins! Shows what blubber can do!
There were loads of cubs as well which were so cute, but boy did they make a racket!
On the way to our next stop we felt a bit guilty about drives past all the so-called 'scenic spots' so stopped at one called the 'Knights View , pretty but we quickly moved on.
After our little wild life and scenic adventure we then drove down to Punakaiki where the well known Pancake Rocks are. Apparently these are a phenomenom as scientists cannot explain why the rocks has layed themselves on top on each other, to us (the uneducated!) they just look like pretty grooves!
There are also some blowholes here
Mum can I have one?
It will keep my dad company, plus they are easy to look after - they just like to eat, sleep and swim!as well - holes in the rocks where when the tide is high the water is pushed straight up through them like a fountain - more interesting than you think!
After this we continued our drive through Barrytown (had a quick stop so Di could take a picture for her brother, Barry) then went to the fun part of the day - Shanty Town!
This is a park where they have made an exact replica of how a mining village was back in the days - we got to ride a steam train, panned for gold and bought traditional sweets from a proper sweet shop - wicked!
After all the fun and excitement, we drove onto our next overnight stop - Franz Josef - the home of the famous Glacier.
Me and Di were quite intrigued how a glacier could just appear in the middle of a hot country and was expecting to suddently drive into snow covered mountains! But as we discovered the Glacier has actually formed between the mountains and as it is so high up, that is what creates the ice. We had it explained to us in more detail but me and
Knights Point
Not that bad actually! Di still don't understand it, oh well - suppose I won't lose any sleep over it!
We checked in a hostel called the Montrose (nicer than the pub back home though!) and after asking what options are available to climb the glacier and looking at some photo's, I suddenly realised that it may be a bit steep for me and my fear of heights to overcome. As we just missed the Climbing Company's office from closing, we decided to get up early and go to the office first thing to make our decision.
Liking the town so far though, as it's a ski resort in winter it has all Wood Lodges - pretty!
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