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Published: April 1st 2010
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After the birdwatching of Kaikoura, I crossed over to the West side of the island. The weather had gone from sunny to cloudy with some rain, so unfortunately, I didn't see much of the mountains I passed through and over along the way. It was still a beautiful drive though, and it's so nice to drive around without much other traffic around! The Buller Gorge was one of the highlights of this drive. I stayed the night in a town called Westport. Not much to do here, just passing through.
The next day was planned for a drive to Franz Josef, a town where mountains and glaciers dominate the landscape. It's supposed to be a very scenic drive, but the weather only got worse, so I didn't get to see much of the mountains. Along the way I made a stop at the famous Pancake Rocks, strange layered rock formations that make a beautiful sight. There's a nice pathway that takes you around several viewpoints on the rocks. While taking pictures there, it started raining heavily and because I wasn't wearing any rain protective clothes I got soaking wet. Luckily I was able to keep my camera fairly dry. I
changed into some dry clothes and quickly continued my drive to Franz Josef.
In Franz Josef I checked into a hostel and had a first glance at the huge glacier that is coming down the mountain. It is 12km long and descends to only 300 metres above sea level. It's possible to hike on the glacier, so I booked a guided hike for the next day. Another new experience, we walked to the glacier and on it, and pretty much through it, having to crawl between two ice walls, only centimeters apart. Good thing we had clampons to get grip on the ice. Some parts of the glacier have beautiful blue colors. Most of that blue ice is more up the mountain though. As the glacier gradually moves down the mountain, it grinds down rock and takes the rocks along, taking away some of the nice color.
The next day, I left Franz Josef and drove to Fox Glacier, just 20km away. Unfortunately, the glacier was closed due to rockfall so I didn't get a very close look. I got a nice view from the mountain range and the glacier from about 10km away. I was staying the
night in Haast, and along the way I picked up a French mother and daughter hitchhiking. As a thank you, they treated me to a nice salmon lunch at a salmon farm along the road! I arrived in Haast early, and since the weather was still bad, I decided to relax a bit for the rest of the day.
The last day of my "west coast drive" was to Queenstown, self-proclaimed adrenaline capital of the world, and topic of my next blog post. A lot of people go here to bungy jump and skydive, but not me ;-)
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maart
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Die gletscher is cool! (letterlijk :o) Ik had niet eens in de gaten hoe groot ie was, totdat je inzoomt op de mensjes die er bovenop staan! En die kleur! Echt te gek!