Blogs from Punakiaki, West Coast, South Island, New Zealand, Oceania - page 3

Drive from Fox Glacier to Punakaiki As if to spite us, the sun decided to come out and shine on the day we left Fox glacier- after it had rained non stop for 2 and a half days. But we took full advantage of the sunshine and stopped at Lake Matheson on our way out of town. Lake Matheson is considered NZ's most photographed lake, due to its mirrored image of Mt. Tasman and Mt. Cook(the tallest peak in NZ). We walked the circle around the lake, through yet another bush clad NZ forest and made our way to the lakefront. what a beautiful body of water, hidden amongst trees and ducks and flax grass, and smack dab in the middle of some dairy and sheep farms. hopefully my photos will suffice. After the lake walk ... read more

I've been surprised how many travellers in this country get around by hitchhiking. They literally come here with nothing and hitch around, finding work wherever they can. It's legal here, only banned on the large 4 lane highways found in bigger cities like Auckland or Wellington. In Punakaiki (poo-na-kike-eee) we were roomed with an American named Kyle that's been doing it for 9 months now. He had $60 dollars to his name, but was doing just fine and had no worries. It was nice to meet someone like that, and his stories of tramping and other times of just being poor and desperate were inspiring. 20 years old, didn't go to college, and had never travelled in his life. He still seemed to have a good head on his shoulders, and seemed anxious to head back ... read more

I wasn't quite sure where to go after my overnight stop in Murchinson. The initial plan had been the Nelson Lakes, which I’d been told were lovely and where I could do some good day walks, but then there was the alternative option of the making use of the car and clocking up some miles!! In the end it came down to a spur of the moment decision when I got up in the morning......... After Abel Tasman another favourite from our trip last year was the West Coast - I remember Sam and I were driving from Motueka down to Franz Joseph, we’d spent several hours going through lots of lovely green valleys and then we turned a corner and suddenly there was this huge wave that looked like it was going to crash straight ... read more

The day started with a fine weather and we drove north to see the famous Pancake Rocks. Not much to say about them but the way there and back was awesome - rocks on the shore with all kinds of shapes, and more amazing was the amount of green all around - trees bushes etc, and so close to the sea. Shiri wondered how this all survives with the salt of the sea and then, just about mid-day we got the answer - rain rain rain... I drove 200km in non-stop rain, quiet heavy rain. this part of the road (from Greymouth to Franz Jozef) didn't look as nice as the first one, but maybe we simply couldn't see anything? BTW, a short one about the roads here. I didn't see even one road with 2 ... read more