Blogs from West Coast, South Island, New Zealand, Oceania - page 5

We had some great time since the last entry. The weather got worse though, however we expected it so no disappointment there.. We tend to arrive somewhere and find some great walks which are usually free. New ZealandTourism is trying to make so much money on tourists, it is unbelievable. One of the walks was a walk round Punakaiki and Pororari River. You can hire a kayak there as well. The look of the rocks and mirror-like river is just beautiful. We went for a swim naked as well before all the tourists could see us! I really liked town called Hokitika, shame it was raining all day as we ended up in the library. Hokitika is known for a green stone called Jade http://www.jadecountry.co.nz/ It is a beautiful stone but expensive one! We headed towards ... read more

25.01.2012 An diesem Tag fuhren wir mittags über Wanaka an die Westküste. 26.01.2012 Da das Wetter leider nicht mitspielte, und die Vorhersage auch nicht besonders gut war, fuhren wir an diesem Tag früh morgens über Haast, Fox- und Franz-Josef-Gletscher bis kurz nach Greymouth. Es regnete den ganzen Tag über und die Sicht war auch nicht gut. 27.01.2012 Da es die ganze Nacht und den halben Tag durchregnete fuhren wir morgens sofort weiter nach Nelson.... read more

Day 15 – Monday the 28th of March So far we have ticked off 20 of the 101 Must Do’s for Kiwis, at least in the South Island anyhow, and all over the last 15 days. Today we ticked off number 20... the Buller Gorge. Thanks for being so patient waiting for the latest blog. We had written them, but simply had no time, nor service in order to post them. But now we are settled in the Abel Tasman town of Marahau, having a quiet wine and homemade meal and catching up on our honeymoon blog. We awoke this morning in what was the former township of Lyell, now just a DOC site of grass, trees and walking tracks. So we decided to set off this morning to explore one of those walking tracks to ... read more

Back again, and what an experience we had Saturday. Before that, Friday night in Franz Joseph we enjoyed the local spa for over an hour, despite the constant rain. Come to find out a prominent feature of a rain forest such as the West Coast is is…Rain! It had been raining most of the day, and then most of the night also. We were a bit concerned our hike up to the glacier would be wet, but we were prepared to do it nonetheless. Once again, we got lucky! Saturday morning dawned partly cloudy and just got nicer as the day went on. We got to the assembly area in town along with the other 15 or so people that were doing the half day trek with us. We were outfitted in weather proof pants, rain ... read more

C’est totalement conquis et transis par la beauté de l’Abel Tasman Park que nous reprenons la route en début de matinée. Rose prend en main avec aisance notre nouveau bolide et une fois de plus, l’asphalte nous déroule son tapis grisâtre sous un soleil de plomb. Notre étape du jour passe entre 2 parcs nationaux : Kahurangi National Park et Nelson Lakes National Park. Comme pressenti, les paysages y sont très beaux et sauvages. La route est taillée à travers d’énormes forêts luxuriantes de forte densité… et au milieu coule une rivière (pas de Brad Pitt par contre). Avant de prendre nos quartiers à Punakaiki, notre refuge pour deux jours, nous décidons d’aller observer une colonie sauvage d’otaries. Et là, boum ! La claque (la bonne, pas celle du vendredi soir) en arrivant sur la côte ... read more