Blogs from West Coast, South Island, New Zealand, Oceania - page 6

Oceania » New Zealand » South Island » West Coast » Westport February 13th 2011

We had read that there was a little natural hot springs area somewhere across the Lewis Pass. There were no signs to it but it was a certain distance past the sign to the nature reserve. So we kept our eyes peeled for the sign and pulled off into the picnic area to see what we could find. It was only a short distance from the car park apparently so we headed along the river trying to avoid being eaten alive by the killer sand flies! Unfortunately due to what can only be described as a landslide all the hot pools had been filled in!! You could see where they would have been as there were wet sand rings surrounded by rocks in neat little circles! The only one remaining was right by the rivers edge ... read more

Pannenkoeken

Oceania » New Zealand » South Island » West Coast » Westport February 12th 2011

Pancake rocks

Rverlinden

Geo: -41.7581, 171.602Zaterdag 12 februariStilaan vorderen we naar het Noorden van het Zuidereiland. Vanmorgen hebben we rustig uitgeslapen en zijn we tegen 10u vertrokken voor een rit van zo'n 270 km. De eerst 150 daarvan was door bos- en berglandschap tot Hokitika. Hokitika was het eerste plaatsje van enige omvang dat we tegenkwamen. Het is de hoofdstad van de bewerking van jade en New Zealand greenstone. We hebben ons niet te veel laten verleiden door de juwelen en zijn maar iets gaan drinken in het Café de Paris. Daarna ging de rit verder langs de mooie, wilde westkust aan de Tasmaanse zee. In Punakaiki zijn we gestopt om de beroemde pannenkoeken rotsen (pancake rocks) te gaan bekijken en de blowholes waar de wilde zee in omhoog blaast. Het was nog geen vloed, wanneer het effect het ... read more

Gold & Green - more hunting for riches

Oceania » New Zealand » South Island » West Coast February 3rd 2011

Hokitika Beach

thetravelbugtribe

Sunday 30th January – Thursday February 3rd 2011 I am sitting here trying to be inspired by the view out the window of our current couch surf. Or the view that was outside this window this morning as this evening the cloud has descended and the rain is about to start. We are staying with a wonderful family just south of Ross and they have views of snow covered Mt Cook and Mt Tasman, plus other mountains. So in between flashes of lightning I will backtrack and reminisce about the past few days. I promise not to wax lyrical or anything! Besides, its been a quiet week. Our last blog left you in Greymouth where we did some domestic stuff (laundry, grocery shopping, topping up the water tanks). Our next destination was Lake Brunner, 40km or ... read more

Hokitika Driftwood Sculpture competition

West Coast Rocks!

Oceania » New Zealand » South Island » West Coast January 29th 2011

beach at Kohaihai DOC camp as the sun sets

thetravelbugtribe

Wednesday 26th – Saturday 29th January 2011 Oparara Basin Karamea Bluff may be lower than the Lewis Pass but at least there is a sign at the top telling you how high it is! We passed over the bluff not long after leaving the Gentle Annie camp ground on our way north to the end of the road. The road peaked at 420m before winding back down to sea level. Karamea describes itself as 'off the beaten track' and 'a natural wonderland', a secluded haven between the mountains and the sea. Tucked into the north west corner of the South Island, the settlement sits on the river flats of the Karamea River. The drive there from Westport is pretty neat, in many places along the road there is the ocean on one side of the road ... read more

Gold Fever

Oceania » New Zealand » South Island » West Coast January 25th 2011

Wagon poised at the top of the Denniston Incline

thetravelbugtribe

Saturday 22nd January – Tuesday 25th January 2011 Lewis Pass From Hanmer Springs we headed to the west coast – better weather was forecast for the next few days than on the east coast so we thought we'd take advantage of it. Besides, there were places we wanted to see and things we wanted to do. The road took us over the Lewis Pass. We wound our way up a while, checking the map and the settlement names as we'd been told about some free hot springs along the way. We found the parking spot by the river and the warm pool easy enough – and the infamous sand-flies found us. We'd barely stopped and the little biters were all over us (not fun when trying to feed a baby). The water wasn't warm enough or ... read more

The West Coast of the South Island

Oceania » New Zealand » South Island » West Coast October 7th 2010

Fox Glacier

Gemma and Stephen

Leaving Nelson early the following day and making our way south along the west coast, it became clear that the weather was turning for the worse. Not surprising really as the west coast of the south island is notoriously unpreditacble. Greymouth would be as far as we would drive today with a few quick stop offs at Buller Gorge (The longest swinbridge in New Zealand at 100m's long), Cape Foulwind (the location of a large fur seal colony) and Punakaiki (The very unique 'Pancake Rocks' - aptly named as they look like stacks of pancakes). After a night in Greymouth we travelled further south again to The Franz Josef and Fox Glaciers where we would be doing our glacier hike. Our first two nights were spent in the very quaint and peaceful Fox Glacier village, but, ... read more

Glaciers & Helicopter snow landing

Oceania » New Zealand » South Island » West Coast » Franz Josef September 5th 2010

On the road to Franz Josef

Newlands

Geo: -43.3891, 170.182Fox and Franz Josef Glaciers were amazing, the glaciers aren't far from each other and Mount Cook sits behind them from here. The first morning we book a helicopter flight to view the glaciers and even have a snow landing! They took our details including weight, which I guess was to balance things out, but I was really quite a bit nervous about the flight, thankfully I had no time to think about it as we just had time to grab our jackets then we were off to the airstrip.I didn't realise it at the time but there was a plane crash at this airstrip just a few days beforehand killing all 6 on board, I heard about it on the news but hadn't made the connection with this part of the island until ... read more

Seal Colony, Pancake Rocks & Blowholes

Oceania » New Zealand » South Island » West Coast » Punakiaki June 18th 2010

P6150167

lmmh

the title says it all........ read more

Fox and Franz Joseph glaciers

Oceania » New Zealand » South Island » West Coast June 1st 2010

ST834264

kristenflo

Our first experience walking on ice... Notre premiere experience sur la glace...... read more

Hotikita To Wesport

Oceania » New Zealand » South Island » West Coast June 1st 2010

ST834310

kristenflo

The hotikita Gorge and the pancake rocks... Les gorges d'hotikita et les rochers Crepe...... read more

Brief history of New Zealand

The Polynesian Maori reached New Zealand in about A.D. 800. In 1840, their chieftains entered into a compact with Britain, the Treaty of Waitangi, in which they ceded sovereignty to Queen Victoria while retaining territorial rights. In that same year...more history

Forum Topics for West Coast

Rakiura TrackPosts: 4

Pre-pay mobile phone SI...Posts: 9

Win one of two 24 Day A...Posts: 1

24 hours in AucklandPosts: 9

Christchurch (NZ) earth...Posts: 30

Best time of day???Posts: 2

Rental cars.....best ag...Posts: 2

TB Auckland (NZ) get-to...Posts: 15

Is there a more beautif...Posts: 5

Top 10Posts: 2

South Island Hidden Gem...Posts: 8