Tales Of The West Coast

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A 'scenic flight'

Picton to Queenstown
Michael Sneddon
A 'scenic flight' TALES OF THE WEST COAST

As I mentioned on my last blog, the 3 and a half hour ferry ride from Wellington to Picton was absolutely stunning. Navigating through the peaks and foresty views of the Marlborough Sounds meant it was an extremely quick journey. Picton is a beautiful little harbour town, but we didnt spend long there as I hooked up with the Magic Bus heading towards our next destination of Nelson.

The south island hits you immediately. Hills to the left, forests to the right. Bang, another hill. Bang, another beautiful lake. Amazing. We made a couple of stops on the way to check out the views, quite a wine growing area but still full of great scenery - this is supposed to be the less scenic part of the south island too!

Our driver Colin has kept us entertained with some good banter - he's the best driver (tour guide) so far. We've also got a good group going on the bus with (another) Colin, Ciaran (both Irish travellers) and Adam, an English traveller. Bus driver Colin introduced us to a new game where, when driving over a railway track, we lift our legs off the ground ('so we dont trip over it') and raise our hands ('for good luck'). Very random and typical of his fun banter.

Adam, Colin (not bus driver), Ciaran and I decided, upon arriving in Nelson, to embark on a spot of hill climbing, climbing up to a spot which is considered the 'centre point' of New Zealand. I've no idea how they worked this out, if it's central horizontally or vertically but I've been there nonetheless! Great views up there on a sunny day in a place that is the 'sunniest place in NZ'.

Talking about the weather, note that it was sunny yet in my last blog I stated it was getting colder and winter was arriving. This is a common pattern, I have noticed that when I put in my blog it is getting colder it heats up and vice versa - travelling down North America this happened a LOT! So I would like to now note that it is getting really really really really cold here now. That should do it.

Leaving Nelson we headed for Greymouth - or 'the g-spot' as our driver jokingly referred to it! This day I will forever remember as 'rainbow day' - as we saw no fewer than 8 rainbows along the road - including one 'freshly made' rainbow I will talk about later... This started as soon as we left Greymouth with the clearest rainbow I have ever seen.

I am becoming quite adept at taking photos from the bus window, as we flee past miles and miles of gorgeous countryside. This was a day for such photo taking - but I am still reminded that apparently we havent even hit the really scenic views! The Greymouth day was a top notch day - not only because the Monteiths brewery tour that I wanted to do was awaiting us at the end of our journey but because of the sites along the way as well!

It was a 'scottish' day weather wise - changing weather ever 5 minutes, but when we hit the coast it stayed very choppy and wet. However, in NZ the wet weather can actually be a good thing and make for some spectacular sites. For example, I had heard there is a road (on the north island I think - I never made it) that you can drive down on a sunny day and it's just a plain road; if it rains, however, you get all these crazy waterfalls flying down alongside the road and it's supposedly very cool.

Similarly, the west coast was like this. First of all we stopped to watch some seals. It was ok, but watching lazy animals slouch around isnt my cup of tea though... But a useful introduction to the choppy and rocky coasts I guess.

After that we stopped at a little trail and 'beach'. On this day though the beach was getting belted with waves - it was very cool! I went down and stood on the beach, watching some HUGE waves thrash their way towards me - I had to run out the way of some oncoming water at one point! I stood there for a bit and watched the waves pound off the rocks - I loved it! Sadly I had to go though, as I was holding up everyone on the bus!

Little did I know that this was merely an introduction to such features, before we hit our next stop at the 'Pancake Rocks'. These are called pancake rocks because the erosion in the rocks has caused a layering effect, so that they look like pancakes stacked on top of each other. Quite cool, but the best bit of this place was the 'Blowholes'. On a 'good day' the waves hit the rocks and make their way down little holes with some cool effects! Of course this means that a 'good day' is in fact a choppy wet and windy day - exactly what we had! On top of this, the tide was in so we had timed this to perfection (or gotten very lucky would probably be the correct way of looking at it!).

As I mentioned before, the wet weather had created a cool array of rainbows along the road, in the Pancake Rocks we would get a 'freshly created' rainbow. There was a blowhole called the Chimney Pot, as the water must have made it's way through a tight hole and flew out looking like steam. However, the conditions were perfect so that when the 'steam' came out a little rainbow appeared for about 2 seconds as the water disappeared into the air... So I got my own freshly made rainbows appearing on the spot! I'm not sure how often this happens or how lucky I was to get this, as when I went back about 20 minutes later it wasnt happening anymore! I guess this was a very lucky day overall for the conditions 😊 I'm not obsessed with rainbows but the ones we saw this day were very cool - in fact Colin takes particular delight in laughing at my apparent 'fascination' with rainbows that day...

The rest of the Pancake Rocks park was also very cool, getting to see the strange shapes that the eroded rocks had formed, as well as the waves battering against the rocks once more and getting splashed by some of this!

After this it was on to Greymouth and the Monteiths distillery tour. If you've read my blogs you will of course know that Monteiths has been my favourite beer from NZ and I dont think that will change. So I was looking forward to this! There were about a dozen of us on the tour, a quieter night than I thought it would be. The tour was pretty standard for a brewery tour, with a few exceptions that of course create a beers unique flavour. Interestingly to stick with 'tradition' Monteiths only uses bottles for their beer, not cans. They were also a lot smaller scale than I had expected - although apparently they are, as of 2007, exporting to the UK through a new deal signed with Tesco - good to know!

The best part of the tour, naturally, was the tasting session where we got to taste the different blends produced by Monteiths - they produce an 'award winning' Celtic Red beer that is really good - no patch on Ricards Red from Canada though 😉

Other than the Monteiths brewery tour there wasnt much to do in Greymouth, so, after a night chilling by a huge log fire watching movies on a big screen TV (hostels on the south island are WAY better than the north island!), we left heading south towards our next stop at Franz Josef - I was looking forward to see the world famous glacier there. Once more there was another day of great scenery along the road - but the best views always seem to be from the left side of the bus and I kept sitting on the right hand side! Still an awesome drive though!

My original plan in Franz Josef was to take a 'scenic flight' and do a one day hike of the glacier. Due to bad weather though my flight was cancelled, so I changed my plans and did a half day hike and only spent one night there.

The Franz Josef glacier is famous, alongside Fox glacier down the road, for being the only advancing glacier in the world - i.e. it is expanding. It is very impressive - when you are hiking towards the glacier it feels like you are about 500m away, when apparently it is 2.9km - an optical illusion due to the size of the glacier.

Hiking it was fun, going through some icey caverns and seeing some blue ice. It was not as fun as I thought it would be, our tour guide was a bit too serious (no fun allowed!) and the climb was a bit slow - even though we were in the 'fast' group... In fact we were so fast that the 'slow' group started after us and caught up with us! Our guide even told someone off for not holding on to one of the ropes 'palm upwards' as he had instructed!! He was also not impressed with my attempts to write my name in the ice using the pick axe... Other than that though, it was a cool hike, surrounding by stunning cliff faces and icey peaks - with a great view looking back to Franz Josef.

We hit the bars in town that night and had a very good night. I met up with Paco and Denis - who I had met in Auckland - and enjoyed catching up with them over a few drinks, as well as enjoying some good banter with our group off the bus... When I was at the bar I spotted these guys shooting this red shot - which the barman informed me was called 'Red Peril'. Not put off by the name and wanting to try a random shot (which I was also told was free too!) I gave it a go... The barman instructed me to swirl the shot around in my mouth, gargle, then swirl again before swallowing. Turns out that I was basically shooting hot chilli mixed with alcohol! Once the insane burning had died down, I decided to use my newly gained knowledge to make some of the others also suffer! I called Adam, Ciaran, Colin and Alan (another Irish traveller from the bus) over to have a shot... Dont think it was too appreciated and I've been told to watch my back as they will be seeking revenge!!

Our first stop the next day was at Lake Matheson - known as the 'mirror lake' for it's reflection of the Mountains Cook and Tasman - New Zealand's two tallest mountains. I decided that a jog round the lake might be a good hangover cure - also meant I could make it to 'reflection island' for a postcard perfect shot of the lake.

Our group decided to stop over at Wanaka - a tiny little mountain town. I had re-booked my 'scenic flight' and since the weather had cleared up it was good to go. The views from the air of the mountains surrounding Wanaka were amazing. And once we'd leveled off at around 9000 feet I jumped out...

This means that either Im writing this blog as I hurtle towards the ground and my inevitable death or that I was attached to someone with a parachute on - the latter would of course be correct! I will never forget that day, sky diving was absolutely amazing. The free fall - 30 seconds - is such a rush and afterwards feels like about 2 seconds. The views from then in were unbelievable as we gently glided down towards the ground.

My tandem master had a 'handicam' attached so I have video evidence of the jump which I've attached to this blog (may take a bit to download...). He was just top notch, I'd told him that joking around would be better for my nerves than being too serious - which he promptly took to heart as he pretended to forget the parachute amongst other little jokes!!

However, I would do it all again with no hesitation - and go higher next time - I enjoyed this much more than my bungy (I would have to pysche myself up to do another bungy!). There is always a lot of backpacker chat about which is scarier - bungy or skydive - for me there is no doubt that a bungy is scarier!

I stopped off at puzzle world on the way back from the jump, but the cool maze and puzzle room went straight over my head after the high I was on. After that amazing rush, and it being a Saturday night with the bars buzzing with rugby fans, what better way to celebrate than a trip to the...cinema! I did manage to persuade Colin to join me for a celebratory pint (incidentally, I tried Speights Dark for the first time - quite good actually) before the movie.

The reason why we were visiting a cinema on a Saturday night? Well in fact this is no ordinary cinema! The cinema is equipped with an array of different ways to relax and enjoy a movie including couches, lazy boys and even a car! After I had jumped in the car for a bit I settled into a couch to watch the movie, which was Pan's Labyrinth (not our ideal choice but there's only 1 screen so you have to watch whatever is showing!)... I think I discovered the reason why cinemas dont have couches, as I kept dosing off during the movie!

To freshen up in the morning, the boys and I decided to climb Mount Iron, with stunning 360 degree panoramic views of the area our reward at the top. The Wanaka to Queenstown drive the after this was probably the best so far - and that's saying something! We stopped over at a little waterfall and also for a picture perfect view of Lake Haewa.

I am currently in Queenstown just now - dubbed the adventure capital of New Zealand, which is also dubbed the adventure capital of the world - so I think you get the picture that this place is pretty adventurous! On the way there we stopped at the K Bridge - the world's first commerical bungy jump, where the idea started with a crazy New Zealander called A J Hackett.

Colin and Adam, as well as another couple on the bus, stepped up to the plate and took the plunge. Not thrilled enough by this, they have signed up for another two jumps - crazy lads!

I was a little tempted to jump but am going to save my money for some of the other huge list of possible activities in Queenstown... I have even changed my flight to Sydney to the 20th of June for more time in Queenstown. Hopefully everything goes to plan and I come out alive and well to blog the details soon!

But I dont think anything will compare to the sky dive though...

Mich

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Photos

Homer and the sounds
Homer in the Marlborough Sounds

Centre Point of NZ
The lads at NZ's centre point - Colin, Me, Adam and Ciaran

Random bus banter
Us going over a railway line, with our hands in the air for good luck (Adam on the left seems to be enjoying it!)

Rainbows
A double rainbow, one of many we saw around Greymouth

Random beach
View from a small random beach of the waves hurtling towards you and smacking off the rocks

Pancake Rocks
Crashing waves at Pancake Rocks

Glacier Trekking
Me and Homer glacier trekking at Franz Josef

Inside the glacier!
Another photo from our glacier trek as we went up inside parts of the very cool looking ice

Lake Matheson
Mounts Cook and Tasman reflected in the water - this photo is upside down!

Lake Hawea
Me and Homer at Lake Hawea - more postcard perfect photos!

Views along the road
Some of the views on the drive to Wanaka - my photo taking skills from the bus window are improving!

Wanaka Region
Me, Homer and the lads enjoying our rewards after hiking up there...

Homer and Wanaka
Homer enjoys the view after our hike up Mt Iron...