Blogs from West Coast, South Island, New Zealand, Oceania - page 16

So, we were going to wake up at 6:45 to get our day going early, since the sun exists nice and early in these parts. But...Murray was in charge of the alarm clock, so it was 7:30 when the body decided to start moving around. Still in good spirit, we headed off up island to see an arch, some caves, and some rain forest. Was a great view of the ocean to start our day, and then we travelled on a 16km stretch of single land gravel, only one mini bus on it's side, good thing it was a dry day. The arch was all it was built up to be, 200 metres long of limestone, 30 metres high and 40 metres wide...and just a trickle of an iron laden stream. We found a couple of ... read more

The drive from Haast to Fox Glacier is short, although pretty. We had a few stops on the way to look at the beautiful coastline. When we made it to Fox Glacier, we went straight for a hike to check it out. The scenery is quite nice, and the glacier is quite amazing to look at. It’s a very fast moving glacier (compared to other glaciers) and there’s often ice and rock falling down the face. As a result, they don’t let you near it without a guide. There are a few river crossings to get to the glacier face. Emma’s approach was to carefully balance are walk across the stepping stones to cross each creek. Matt just ran through the water. He got more wet, but it certainly got some laughs from the people waiting ... read more

The Franz Joseph Glacier After we arrived back in Queenstown, we had our fill of pizza and our first of many tastes of Monteith's beer. Our rental car, that we picked up the following morning, was a hatchback Corolla and was Steve's dream car. He loved everything about it including backing up, as did the culvert and PBC pipes he would later encounter. Within minutes we grew accustomed from driving on the left side of the road, and Steven was acclimated to the road conditions (windy, narrow, steep roads with many entrance obscured one-way bridges). As we continued through central New Zealand to the west coast, the roads made Erin feel ill. All she could think about was a car coming around the extremely tight corners and crossing the center line and sending her and ... read more

Last night we had a lovely dinner in Franz Josef and then drove to Hokitika and stayed at a wonderful farmstay called Kaniere Farmstay. It was a nice place with two rooms and a kitchen. They had some cows from scotland called Belted Galloway Cattle. They were very furry with messy hair. We drove around Hokitika a bit in the morning and checked out the tea room with the "largest teapot collection in New Zealand" They served some very nice pancakes there. We also visited the Jade Factory and the local library was having a quilt display so we stopped in a took a look. Next we drove to Greymouth and spent some time at the local McDonalds using the internet access there. Greymounth is where the TranzAlpine Railway terminates on the West coast and they ... read more

Aamulla Hopewellissa hyvästeltiin Mike ja Lyn ja aloitettiin matka kohti Nelsonin kaupunkia. Tie Kenpuru Soundista oli mutkaisempi kuin muistettiin, joten matkalla hieman heikotti. Bensakin oli punaisen tolpan kohdilla kun karautettiin ensimmäisen huoltoaseman kohdille Havelockissa, joten hilkuille meni! Havelockista huristeltiin parin tunnin matka Nelsonin kaupunkiin. Nelsonissa oli miellyttävää pikku kaupungin tuntua, joten muutettiin taas reissusuunnitelmia ja päätettiin jäädä sinne yöksi. Ennen illan pimenemistä käytiin kävelemässä kierros keskustassa ja käytiin Richmondin suburbiassa ostoksilla. Seuraavana päivänä käytiin Nelsonin viikonloppumarketilla kiertelemässä ja katselemassa paikallisten käsityötuotteita. Oli myös hilkulla, että ei otettu taulua sieltä mukaan, mutta 400 euroa oli meille hitusen liikaa. Torin jälkeen päätettiin jatkaa matkaa kohti Greymouthin kaupunkia/ky... read more