Westland

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24th to 26th February

From Queenstown we headed up the West coast stopping at Arrowtown, another gold rush town, for lunch. Very quaint but not much to it. On to Haast, over the Haast Pass, through Wanaka, the scenery changed from craggy mountains, through rainforest, to coastal plains, all in 140 miles.

Haast itself is unremarkable, but famous for whitebait in the season. The Coast was stunning but it was raining heavily so not much exploring.

Next day up early, drove all the way to Hokitika, "a cool little town" ! On the way was the famous glaciers, Fox and Franz Josef, the closest to sea level in the world. We stopped at Fox glacier and walked from the car park to the terminal face about an hour round trip. The ice was very dirty looking, due to rock falls but the ice very blue! geology in the making. Stopped at Franz Josef for lunch and got photo of the glacier from the road (saved the cost of a helicopter trip to see it!)

Camped at Hokitika by the beach, absolutely stunning. Chris got in for a swim in the surf, very strong under current. Went to see the Glow worm dell after dark.....the worms glowed happily and could be easily seen when other tourists turned off their torches!!!

Next morning we explored Hokitika, went to the National Kiwi centre and saw one of their two kiwis in it's nocturnal natural habitat, they are much smaller the you would imagine. Had a look at the Greenstone (Pounamu) factory and shop. Greenstone is jadite and revered by the Moari. Then back in Lara Lor Van to drive north to Nelson. On the way stopped at the Buller Gorge and walked over the longest swing bridge in New Zealand!!

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Photos

Franz Josef Glacier
This picture is taken from the road so not brilliant. Better pics on the camera and we will update later.