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Published: November 24th 2006
Tuesday 14th Novemeber Paul - We weren't expecting the weather to be great in the morning but we definately weren't expecting the deluge that greeted us. Decided we would give hiking on the glacier a miss (not that it mattered, heli hiking had been cancelled for the day anyway) but drove up to the glacier terminal anyway to see if we could sneek a peak. Through the mist we managed to make out something resembling snow but nothing spectacular. Drove on to Franz Josef glacier up the road, hoping that the weather might clear so we could at least see something of one of the biggest glaciers in the world.
Fortunately for us the mist cleared for half an hour and we were able to see Franz Josef in all its icy glory. As it had been raining so much, the rivers and waterfalls all around us were really gushing with force so it was a nice sight.
Happy we'd seen the glacier we drove on up the coast through torrential rain and bright sunshine. It was very strange weather. Laura pulled her usual stunt of falling asleep as we drove through some wonderful coastal scenery before arriving
at Punakaiki and the famous Pancake Rocks.
They are basically some impressive blow holes and interesting rock formations here with the waves crashing into the shore. We stopped for a quite a while here as we seem to enjoy crashing waves and marvelling at the King Kong style scenery (all tropical trees and hills covered in swirling cloud).
The hostel that we checked into tonight was fabulous. Set in a rainforest with our beds on a mezzaine level and settees below us. The kitchen is in a greenhouse and it has flower beds in it. It's brilliant and I can't believe we have it all to ourselves.
We did go back to the Pancake Rocks in the evening as we loved them so much first time around and we wanted to watch them at high tide.
Wednesday 15th November Laura - After checking out of our lovely rustic hostel we drove towards Kaikoura, on the Lewis Pass (another spectacular drive through the mountains). We made a slight detour on the way to stop at a place called Buller Gorge which has the longest swing bridge in New Zealand and a 100m zip wire
running across the gorge.
After a pleasant walk through fields and woodland we raced like kids to the zipwire and got tickets to zip across 'superman' style. Paul got kitted up and went first, taking a running jump off the platform. It looked like fun but I was slightly nervous looking at the raging river flowing 100 feet below! Before I knew it I was being patted on the back and told to "jump". So I closed my eyes and did as I was told! It was great fun, although it didn't last very long.
We made it to Kaikoura late in the afternoon and checked into a quiet little hostel out of town. We managed to set off the fire alarm cooking pasta (I have no idea how this happened). As the manager wasn't around the whole hostel were soon outside trying to figure out how to silence it! Luckily I found a key to the alarm box and we went back to cooking with our heads hung low in shame! We had a few beers and spent the night talking to another couple (who had also burnt their dinner!).
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Mum
non-member comment
The zipwire sounds fantastic - now i would like to do that - although i am not sure i would open my eyes if it were that high up. Sitting here at marees computer - it has been a gorgeous day here today but gets quite cold now at night - craft fayre here in Healing today - cant believe you were there selling raffle tickets last year. Take care - lots of love mum xxx