NZ - West Coast & Lewis Pass

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Friday 11th November
Fairly early start, with the intention of driving to Wanaka or possibly further via Queenstown. It was a cloudy day and we retraced our drive back to Mossburn and then cut across to Five Rivers. Drove along the valley and then once past Kingston the road ran along the side of a lake. All very pretty with the gorse and may blossom and wild lupins just coming into flower and snow peppering the tops of the mountains. Stopped in Queenstown and had a wander around the esplanade, (the sun came out for a while!) looked in the shops and decided to go to Arrowtown, an old Gold Rush town on the banks of the River Arrow.
About half hour drive and we parked the Van and went to the museum which exhibits the harsh pioneering days of the Europeans and the gold rush in 1861. The museum complex includes the original Bank of New Zealand premises and other buildings built circa 1875. Very interactive museum with replica bakeries and bars with simulated background noise! Check out the lavatory!! The main street in Arrowtown still looks similar to how it was 100 years ago, and has about 60 original buildings from the gold rush days as well.
Anyway, it had started to spit with rain by now, but Chris decided he wanted to do some gold panning (!!) . Armed with his pan and trowel (rented from the museum/information centre), as well as instructions on how to do it, we set off on the way-marked riverside walk downstream, Chris looking for suitable places to gold pan!! Lovely path with beech trees just coming into leaf, wild lupins (most not yet in flower!) mayflower, birds everywhere – very spring like walk! Passed the first bridge and down to a sign where there used to be an old quartz mine/gold reefs, and Chris found his ‘perfect’ place! Off came his shoes and socks and with his trousers rolled up to his knees, he waded into the river to start looking for gold! It gave the passer-bys something to smile about as well!
Fifteen minutes later and that was it! No gold!! Just a small piece of golden grit that he tried to convince himself was gold! Continued the walk down to the bridge and then walked back upstream, back into town (to return panning equipment), and walked down to the Arrowtown Chinese settlement. During the gold rush, Chinese miners were invited to the town to stimulate the flagging economy and they built their own little community of small huts on the outskirts of Arrowtown, and even had their own store, owned by Ah Lum.
Back on the road again and drove past Kawarau Bridge (Nick – how you bungy jumped off that I don’t know!) with its swirling turquoise blue waters rushing below. Followed the river through the gorge until we reached Cromwell and then continued on Route 6 into Wanaka where we decided to camp for the night as it was 7.00pm! (Info: Distance 317kms)
Saturday 12th November
On the road by 8.00am as we have booked a ½ day walk on Fox Glacier at 14.35pm today, nearly 300 km away! Had a quick look at Lake Wanaka, but the weather was pretty gloomy and misty so unfortunately we didn’t see it at its best.
Very pretty drive up to Lake Hawea and the sun was trying to break through the cloud so we were able to see more of the views and the beautiful blue lake. Carried on driving through the Mount Aspiring National Park – stopped at the Blue Pools and walked through the woods to the suspension bridge across the river and the Blue Pools with the rainbow trout in them! Went up over Haast Pass, stopping at various waterfalls and viewpoints , following the deep turquoise blue Haast River, until we came to the Tasman Sea. One of the prettiest drives we have done so far.
The sea was quite rough with debris of old tree trunks and stumps strewn all over its beach – obviously washed down by the rivers and then thrown back up again, although the forests came down to the sea in places. The sun was shining, the sky was blue and it was quite warm by now!
Followed the twisty coast road, up and down until we came to Fox Glacier in plenty of time for lunch and our walk! We had to wear their walking boots (so the crampons would fit!) and we were able to borrow coats, gloves ,hats if we wished and we took the short bus ride to the car park, where we then had to walk for about 45 mins to reach the glacier viewpoint. Another 20mins uphill took us to the edge of the glacier where we had to put on our crampons!
I don’t really know what I expected, but I suppose with hindsight I should have realised that the glacier would look dirty – eg when snow has been on the ground for a while and then it looks dirty therefore so would a glacier! We walked up onto the top of the glacier, after having a quick photo shot inside a crevasse, and then walked over to the other side where there was a ‘small’ cave that showed the beautiful ice blue colour. Unfortunately because it was spring, the other cave that we could have gone to had melted and collapsed. There were also quite a lot of small waterfalls and streams (that I didn’t expect!), and the rocks in the steams appeared to be floating as they were resting on clear ice! We then walked to a ‘moulin’ ....a large hole, which is formed by rain and ice melts, and acts as the drainage system for the glacier. Then had chance to put some glacial mud (powdered rock) on our faces – some say good for the complexion.... before walking back down again! It wasn’t quite the winter wonderland walk of a lifetime, but it certainly gave you chance to experience walking on the ice, and seeing the glacier close up and dirty !!
Drove down to have a look at Lake Matheson but as it was a 50 minute walk decided to do it in the morning, weather dependent. (Info: Distance 291kms)
Sunday 13th November
Worst weather ever! Misty rain/fog with zero visability! Pointless to even look at Lake Matheson so we drove on to Franz Joseph Glacier, and as that appeared to be blow the cloud, walked 20mins to the scenic view point to have a look. It was just about visible under the cloud but the walk through the rainforest was very pleasant! Passed a very blue (even without the sun!) glacial river, and headed away from the mountains towards the coast, where the sun was shining! Had a coffee stop at Hari Hari where Guy Menzies landed after flying from Sydney in 1931 – the first flight from Australia to New Zealand taking nearly 11 hours. His plane was in a small museum to mark the achievement. Later stopped in a little place called Hokitika, that had a fairly impressive clock tower in the centre and loads of Jade shops as well as a fish and chip shop that was packed out!
Resisted the temptation and carried on along the coast past a unique roundabout – the train lines run right through the middle of it!! Also, unfortunately, drove into a swarm of bees that made quite a noise as they hit the windscreen and we had to shut our windows quickly. Apart from that it was a beautiful drive with huge limestone cliffs covered with rainforests tumbling down to the beaches, with creeks and rivers all the way along the very twisty road that hugged the coastline. Got to Punakaiki about an hour after high tide but fortunately the sea was rough and still high enough to create some very impressive blow holes in the layered limestone pancake rocks! The “Chimney Pot” and “Putai” were the most impressive.
Our next stop was the Pororari River where we had a good hours walk along a twisty and hilly track that led through the towering limestone gorge and the rainforest and saw a weka – very similar to a kiwi only not quite so rare!
Because the clouds were still very low and the weather looked like rain inland, we made a decision to continue driving north on the coast road on apparently one of the worlds top ten drives! A spectacular journey with huge rolling waves and the rainforest tumbling right down to the beaches where blue penguins come ashore every night!
Stayed the night in Westport! Saw a couple of dolphins / porpoises swimming up the river! (Info: distance 334kms)
Monday 14th November
Saw the dolphins swimming up the river again this morning, but then realised they must be rocks, as still in same place!! Anyway, it was a beautiful morning, cloud and sun all day, and we made our way along the Buller Gorge with its beautiful twisty blue river and overhanging rocks along the road and then through forests of beech trees until we reached Reefton, another old, quaint and charming gold rush town. Stretched our legs and wandered up and down the main street admiring the old wooden buildings dating back to the 1860’s and also came across an old railway engine on display that was designed and built in Bristol by Robert Fairlee. Today it remains as only one of two genuine single engine Fairlies in the world, the other one at the Henry Ford Museum in USA. A reconstructed single engine Fairlee runs on the Ffestiniog Railway in Wales.
After going to Information and also visiting a replica gold mine we popped into the Bearded Miners Co where we were greeted by Gavin, an ex miner with a fine beard, who showed us round his old replica miners hut. We would have had a cup of tea with them but it seemed a bit too much bother for them! Gavin had also never been down a mine in his life; his parents stopped him as it was so dangerous.
More beech forest, failed to find a waterfall at Maruia Springs so carried on to
Lewis Pass, which took us nearly back up to the snow line. As we came down the other side the valley opened up with spectacular views of the river and hillsides covered in yellow Scottish broom! Followed the valley up and down over the creeks and then crossed the river to go to Hanmer Springs.
This is an alpine spa resort village, with fifteen outside spa and swimming pools, fed by hot springs between 25C and 40C, some of which were sulphur/mineral pools and supposed to be good for your health! Chris asked the girl at Information for a price and thought she said $80 and so was undecided whether to go in. I checked the leaflet and it said $18, with Seniors @ $14, so we raced to see who could get there first!
Wonderful pools and spent a relaxing 2hrs there before driving on to Waiau. From here we turned left and passed absolutely no vehicles for about half an hour or so, zig-zagging our way across the mountains and valleys until we came to the ‘main’ A1 road. ...equally empty. Still quite hilly until we reached the Pacific coast where the coast road runs right along the beach.
Stopped at a campsite in Peketa and parked in a pitch overlooking the sea one way and snow on the mountains the other. (Info: distance 365kms)

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Comments

[tracie bennett]

Wow
looks lovely in NZ - really gorgeous

[anonymous]

Did the powered mud make your skin soft then??!! Shame Chris didn't discover any gold...oh well!