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Published: January 26th 2009
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Jackson Bay
Dinner at the Craypot diner:) Sandflies included! Faulkner/Blunt Visit - Part III and final chapter....must move on to next round of news and guests....
January 8 - 12, 2009
Thursday - Left Queenstown fairly early to head to Wanaka to Puzzling World and quick visit with the Ellis family again. Syd forgot her shoes on Tuesday and we needed to collect them. The weather was nice in Wanaka and we should have stayed there longer. It was 2 days of HEAVY rain from mid day on Thurs until Friday night. The pass from Wanaka to the West Coast (Haast) was gorgeous - lush rainforests, beautiful waterfalls and great hikes. We drove past all of them since the rain just kept getting heavier and heavier. In hindsight, Michele and I both agree we should have taken a walk or two in the rain. We stopped at the Visitors Center in Haast to find out which of the 3 areas of Haast the Holiday Park was located. I must say, although the people at the Haast Holiday Park were very nice, the park itself was certainly a step down from the Top 10s. We all stayed in a bunk room and everything was a bit damp. Shortly after
Haast Visitors Center
Careful...it is slippery! arriving, we loaded everyone, but Mikey and Lindsey, back into the van and headed to the end of the road, the southern most traveled tip of the South Island from the West Coast, to Jackson Bay. We ate at the Craypot, a well known trailer/diner situated at the harbor. The food was good esp. since we found a bottle of wine to accompany our meal. The sandflies were in far greater number than any other life form in the area...
Friday - Before leaving Haast Holiday Park, there was a brief clearing in the weather and Michele, Avery and I walked across the street to the Hapuka Estuary Walk. Michele compaired the rain on Friday to post hurricane rains in Virginia and she was pretty accurate. We went out for a big breakfast in Haast, stopped at the Visitors Center again to kill some time and then headed north towards Fox Glacier. As it was still pouring and we knew we would not be able to see the glacier, we drove straight through. We did stop for a petrol fill up and heard about 2 fatalities on the glacier the day before when a 10 ton chunk of ice
broke off and landed on two Aussie brothers who had gone beyond the warning signs to touch the glacier... Hmm, bad karma...kept going... So, on to Franz Josef....Still pouring so we stopped at yet another Visitors Center and learned about an indoor ice wall for climbing and the Hukatere Glacier Museum. Well, if you can't hike the glacier itself, nothing like a little ice wall climbing... Sydney, Stephen, Graham and Avery participated. Mikey and Lindsey opted to walk around town in the rain and Michele drank coffee and played on the internet. i took pictues😊 The Top 10 at Franz Josef was lovely. Michele and I left the kids and decided to hike up to the glacier and see what we could see, rain or no rain... The kids stayed back and enjoyed the trampoline, made themselves dinner, sat in the hot tub...And the weather cleared and Michele and I saw the glacier. It was so cool that we went back to the Top 10 and made the kids come with us! The glacier was awesome, as were the Kias hanging around in the parking lot!! We found out that they love apples and don't like Whitebait sandwiches...
Saturday
Hukawai Glacier Center
Sydney, Stephen, Avery and Graham - Sun, sun, sun and more driving.... Gregg was taking the Transalpine Train from Christchurch to Greymouth to meet us at 12:45. We had just enough time for a stop at the Bushman's Museum to learn about the history of deer hunting in New Zealand and to see some strange animals and other odd stuff in the museum. It was also the first time since arriving in New Zealand that we experienced really rude service in a restaurant. Interesting place, but not sure I would recommend eating there to anyone.
Arrived in Greymouth with just enough time to find out Gregg's train was delayed by 30 minutes... Once he arrived we headed north to Punikaiki (Pancake Rocks) and the beach. We had a lovely afternoon of great weather and hanging out at the beach. The kids had a blast exploring and finding caves and waterfalls. They also had fun kicking the soccer ball on the beach. Unfortunetly the Top 10 in Greymouth wasn't quite as nice as in Franz Josef and our room was very small and very stuffy. Oh well, we made the most of it and went out to a nice dinner and watched the sunset on the
beach. It was definitely getting to the point for all of us, but Gregg, that we were ready to get back to Timaru.
Sunday - Mikey's 17th birthday... Michele and I got up early to go find decent breakfast foods for everyone. Had a breakfast picnic before packing up and heading to Arthur's Pass. It was a very pretty day and a gorgeous drive. We forced the kids out of the van for a short hike up to Bridal Falls. No one was happy about this, but Gregg, Michele and I gained satisfaction in knowing that once out of the van and at the falls, they were very glad to be there. Stopped for lunch at Flock Hill Lodge - awesome and will come back again to stay!
We needed one more adventure to top it all off...Jet Boating on the Rakaia River Gorge. Michele secured us a deal and we all went for a 30 minute ride. Back in Timaru, we threw together a yummy birthday BBQ dinner for Mikey and a farewell celebration for the rest of us. It was a great night and although three weeks is a long time to spend all together, we had
Franz Josef Glacier
Once the weather started to clear...at about 9pm! a wonderful time. We all agreed that the fantastic memories will far outweigh the few rough bits.
Thanks for coming to visit us Michele, Lindsey, Stephen, Mikey and Lisa!!!
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Uncle Stevie
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Your Novel
Hey, seriously, you should consider turning these entries into a book. You obviously like to write and it could be a good travel guide for people heading to NZ.