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Published: January 12th 2006
The Pancake Rock
One of the many five-minute photo stops you get on the Magic Bus. You may have noticed that the last blog was a bit light, especially on the pics. Well, we've found that the South Island of New Zealand is a bit of a technological wasteland. The last entry took four computers and ten dollar coins (most of the computers here are coin-operated) to get anything up. Right now, we're typing on a machine that we're pretty sure was last used by Matthew Broderick to play Global Thermonuclear War with Joshua.
The last blog difficulty occured in Nelson, which turned out to be the first disasterous travel day of our trip. It was everything you could ask for: the hostel lost our reservation and the only room left in town was twice as much; by the time we went to grab some of the local seafood, the only place open served greasy fish and chips; we were snapping at each other all night; and when we got back to our room, the only movie on was The Blues Brothers...2000.
Nelson may be a lovely town, but we were glad to see it in the rearview mirror. We headed over to the West Coast, until recently an inaccesible part of the country. Along
Climbing Ice
Working our way up the face. the way, we spotted some seals, which outnumber the people in some areas. The West Coast is quite secluded, but exquisite. For the past few days, we've been working our way down, and it becomes almost numbing, as you're presented by beautiful vista after beautiful vista.
Our first stop was Greymouth, a railroad stopover somewhat reminiscent of The Last Picture Show. Perhaps it was sleepier than usual because it was a Sunday. We went to the local bar's all-you-can-eat sausage bbq, which was cheap and filling. Since the town and hostel were so quiet, it was an early night.
We moved next to Franz Joseph, a town named for the nearby glacier, unusual because it reaches down to slightly above sea level. Since the bus brought us in around lunchtime, we had the afternoon to explore. We put on some crampons and boots, and proceeded to climb up on a guided tour. It was quite amazing to move over the ice river, which moves several meters a day. One thing that's nice about traveling abroad is the amount guides let you do without the fear of lawsuits - no helmets or waivers for them. After climbing for a
The Hills of Lake Wanaka
Chris, Anna Kate, Jaime, and the most beautiful view in NZ. couple hours, we headed back to town for some dinner.
Early in the next day's ride, we took a walk around Lake Masterson with Lisa, an artist from Tucson with whom we'd been riding the bus. The lake offers clear reflected views of Mt. Cook. Later, we broke off from the tour to stop in Wanaka, where our friends Jaime and Anna Kate Hutter run
The Stonehouse . Wanaka has to be the most amazing place we've visited thus far. The lake stands in the midst of a range of mountains, and on a clear day, the sky, water and land blend together perfectly. It was nice as well to see some friends, and spend a night in a real home. We hit a great local bistro, where we feasted on mussels, lamb and steak. After a brief hike the next morning, we once again hopped on the neverending Magic Bus.
The only stop before Queenstown was at the original bungy jumping bridge, where we got to see a 60-something plunge off, mocking our cowardice. We then headed into Queenstown, known as the adreneline capital of NZ. Anything you want to jump off of, or speed away on, you can
Mt. Cook and Lake Masterson
Lisa and Chris in front of the largest peak on the continent. do it here. It's a bit overdeveloped (Hard Rock Cafe, Sofitel, etc.) but like any other tourist town, it's for a reason.
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Carrinos
Drinking Life to the Lees
Sorry
We must have been drinking life a little bit too much to the lees, because the town is Franz Josef, and the lake is Lake Matheson. -Ed.