South Island, New Zealand, Day 8

18 OCtober 2011 (Tuesday)

The fireplace at Basil's.

No real plan for today, Should I bypass Hanmer Spring and drive up North to Blenheim, or drive south .. far south again towards Arthurs Pass

Anyway, exploring Westport first.

A official building in Westport. Looks like a landmark here.

The main street of Westport

After spending some money, make a detour to Tauranga Bay Seal Colony.

Taking Route 6 South, then route 69, we reach Reefton.

Miner's hut for show.

Passing Lewis Pass.

Reached Hanmer Spring. Famous for its hot spring and a weekend getaway for people from Christchurch.

Taking a dip in the many hot pools. Cost NZD18 perperson. No time limit.

Wonderful doing it in the cold weather and some light rain.

Our dinner for that night. The place where she started to love and crave for pizzas.

Accomodation for the night. Kakapo lodge. A more family-oriented accomodation.

South Island, New Zealand, Day 7

17 October 2012 (Monday)

Wake up to a beautiful Franz Josef. Blue sky and crisp air.

Realised missed the Rugby World Cup Semifinals between the Australia and New Zealand. Watching the game in a pub here in New Zealand would be a wonderful experience, especially since the AB won the game and would go to the finals.

Leaving Franz Josef, drove North .

Short stop at Pukekura and the only thing there, the Bushmen visitors's center. Short break there. Tempted to taste Possum pie but decided against it.

Passed Ross, one of the few small 'kampung' along the way

Wont mind living in such places at all... that is until boredoms sets in.

Then we reached Hokitika.

Took our time strolling around. Hokitika or Hoki is the so called art center in the region. Pounamu, the Maori name for NZ Jade or Greenstone carvings and retailng is a big industry here. She made puchases (again) albeit the more cheaper rocks.

Also managed to sample the local seasonal delicacy, the Whitebait. Small fishes cooked in eggs fritters - ie omellete style, served with salad and fries. Tasted nice, something chewy and salty goes well with those bland eggs.

As we are leaving, the sky opened up and it starts to rains cats and dogs. Would have to drive even slower in these winding coastal hugging roads, and I am already a slow driver.

After Hokitika, we continue North to another attraction that was said not to be missed here on the West Coast of South Island, the Punaikaki Pancake Rocks and Blowhole.

Reached there and the rain has died down. But again we reached there rather late, with the Park Office and cafe's closing. But the park is still open for another hour and we had it all to ourselves, something I always prefer since I can takes pictures with no human beings in it.

Wonderful rock formations.The pancakes rocks. Did not saw any blowholes though even with the wind blowing strong.

Just add maple syrup and we are good to go.

Continued North to Westport via the Coastal Scenic Route, with a short stop at Grey mouth for groceries. True to the reputation of this place, the weather is really unpredictable and it rained, stopped, rained again and stopped again ....

Still, we did many stops since somebody likes the pebbels on the beach so much that she packs almost 2-3 kilos of pebbels home. Always wondered are theses pebbels originally from the beaches here or they were put here to prevent erosion. I would have though beaches on ocean facing beaches to have smaller grains of sands and rocks with the big waves pounding daily.

Somewhere along the West Coast. Thats the Tasman Seas in front.

Finally reached Westport, and the rain continues.

Spend the night at Bazil's. The twin bed's room upfront is amazing.

South Island, New Zealand, Day 6

16 October 2012 (Sunday)

Woke up early.
Drove to Lake Matheson, very near our accomodation, for the picture perfect scenery promised.

The walking trail going round the lake is approximately one hour long.



And we are rewarded with the mirror image of the lake with Mount Cook and Mount Tasman behind, although the day is slightly cloudy, obscuring the blue sky.

And now only, I found out, going there early means, before sunrise :)

On our walk out, we saw lots of ferns, gold in colour. .. so beautiful...

Leaving Fox township, we drove north to the Franz Josef township half an hour away, for the most ardous activity of our entire trip... a half day hike on the Franz Josef glacier (NZD 123/person)

Unlike the Milford Sound trip, this trip is filled with younger set and almost exclusively angmoh.. Out of the 70-80 participants, only we are non caucasians and we even might be the oldest in the group.

How I worry I might not be able to keep up!!

But you dont see glacier every day, and hiking on one is a very special experience... especially since we wont really know how long they will be there.

Luckily the guide segragrate the group, and those who wants to be in the slower group can choose so. Easy choice for me, I just looked for the fattest in our whole group, see which group she joins and join her group :)

The hike up.

We need to wear crampoon, steel spike over over hiking boots to be able to walk properly on the ice. This, I realised is still the closest thing I have come to experiencing real snow. Our guide is a friendly Dutch guy with a very French name.. Remy.

Tight 'cravasse

Route and steps cut early by guides. Wonder how they did it?

Blue ice

Photo ops .. climbing through an ice cave.

On the way down, looked up back again.

Later in the day, we drive back to Fox Glacier, walk to the base of the glacier for some photos at the almost deserted park (by the time we are there).

Like our LP guidebook says, you dont see a glacier every day of your life, so why not see two in a day.

Ended the day tired as hell. Early night.

Stayed at Glow Worm Cottages, Franz Josef (NZ65/night for the backpackers double room)