It had only been a brief stint in Kaikoura and we were still pretty pleased to be moving on, even if it did mean yet another considerable drive. Our destination was the town of Greymouth on the west coast. Google maps showed the quickest route as being back through the Lewis Pass, the road we had driven in on when we arrived in Kaikoura. For a change of scenery though, we decided to drive almost down to Christchurch, before turning off and heading through Arthur’s Pass. The drive out from Kaikoura was as scenic as the one in would have been if we'd been able to drive down State Highway 1. The road hugged the coastline and we were able to spot the occasional seal sunning itself on the rocks. The drive was a bit stop/start however, as the road was still under repair from the damage caused by the earthquake. Eventually, we turned inland and the route became easier. We made a small diversion down to the village of Gore a bay and used the opportunity to stretch our legs. From there, it was about an hours drive to the city of Rangiora, which is a satellite town of Christchurch. We stopped for a coffee and a snack before returning to the car and setting off towards the mountain pass. We were lucky to be able to drive through the pass, as it had just been reopened following a huge slip and we'd read to still expect delays with clearance still ongoing. The drive through to the village of Arthur’s Pass was stunning. We passed alpine lakes bordered by sheer mountains that still had odd patches of snow on them, the remnants of a rough storm that had passed through a few days before. We pulled over for a bite to eat in the town, having a disappointing pie each before continuing on our way. The drive down the other side was just as impressive and we regretted not stopping when we passed underneath a waterfall that had been channeled over the road to prevent it from falling on to the cars passing beneath it. About 20 minutes out of town we were informed there would be a delay, as the road was currently closed temporarily for maintenance but it would reopen on the hour. When we stopped it was only about 10 minutes to the hour, so we didn't have to wait long. The rest of the drive down to the west coast was easy and we were grateful to escape the car when we pulled up at our accommodation at Greymouth Kiwi Holiday Park. We were in another 1 bedroom motel, which mean Charlotte and I had the beds in the living area. Rather than sit in all evening, we drove in to Greymouth for a look around and to find a place for dinner. Greymouth is a former industrial town which has never really recovered from the nearby coal mines drying up. The remnants of its industrial past can still be seen alongside its sea wall, with a couple of huge cranes dominating the skyline. It was a windy and drizzly evening, so once mum and dad had had a read up on Greymouth’s history, we decided to have a drink. We found a place where Charlotte and I could cash in our free beer tokens that we had received months before at the Monteith’s brewery in the town. It just so happened that the place seemed to be the diveyest dive in the whole town. We each had one drink, while dad and I had a couple of frames of pool, before making our escape. We found somewhere to eat just around the corner. It was ranked number 1 on tripadvisor for eating in Greymouth but were all still surprised at just how good it turned out to be. We had reasonably priced, generous portions of simple food like burgers and sandwiches. Mum even claimed we had the best chips that she had ever tasted. Unfortunately, this was their highlight of Greymouth, they just weren't as keen on it as Charlotte and I had been when we'd visited the previous year.
Thursday 26th January
We awoke to rain, which had arrived at possibly the worst point of the trip. The west coast is famous for its geography, you just need good weather to appreciate it. There was nothing we could do however, so we packed up the car and headed on, keeping our fingers crossed for a bit of luck. Our first stop of the day was 30 minutes south of Greymouth in the town of Hokitika. It's surprising how different Hokitika is to Greymouth, despite their proximity to one another. Greymouth is a burned out ghost town, still mulling its past, whereas Hokitika is a thriving tourist hotspot packed out with craft shops, galleries and cafes. It's biggest draw is Pounamu, also called greenstone, nephrite or jade. The land around is rich with it and it was used by the Moari as jewellery, as well as weapons. The necklace Charlotte had received from her coworker at the motel was made from New Zealand greenstone. When we arrived, it was pouring with rain, so we took our time to browse through a handful of the numerous jade galleries that make up the main shopping streets of the town. We weren't there to buy, so after we'd had our fill we had a look through a couple of other craft stores before sitting down for brunch at a café. The food was okay but nothing to write home about and the service was pretty poor; Greymouth was a winner on the hospitality front at least. We didn't want to spend all day in Hokitika, so we returned to the car and continued on down towards the remote areas of the west coast. After 2 hours we turned off the highway and arrived at Okarito, which is a tiny coastal village right in the Tasman Sea. There was a walk there that we'd marked as being the highlight of the 3 weeks with mum and dad but unfortunately it was going to be ruined by the west coasts woeful weather. Undeterred, we did the walk anyway. It was a steep climb through bush to Okarito trig lookout but there just wasn't anything to look out at. Beyond the veil of clouds were the soaring peaks of the Southern Alps and behind us to the left was Okarito lagoon, separated from the raging Tasman Sea by a thin slice of land. We caught our breath and trudged back down to the car, dejected. From Okarito, it was only a 20 minute drive on to the small town of Franz Josef. To cheer us up, we decided to go for an indoor activity and escape the endless rain. We paid a visit to the west coast wildlife house, which houses a few kiwis. Visiting a wildlife centre is by far the easiest way of guaranteeing to see a kiwi. The second easiest would probably be to sit on Stewart Island for days on end, waiting for one to wander past. Anyway, we paid the fairly steep entrance fee and, after reading up on the kiwi, entered in to the darkened room. Charlotte and my dad made quick work of finding the kiwi, as they have the good eyes and adjusted to the gloom almost immediately. My mum and myself took a little longer but we could eventually make out the large lump of brown feathers rustling around in the dark. Unfortunately, we couldn't take any photos as the kiwis wouldn't have liked the flash (we could have turned the flash off but we still weren't aloud to). After appreciating the odd birds for about 20 minutes, we left the darkened room and had a look around the remainder of the wildlife house. It was mainly about local geography and the nearby glaciers and we were back out in the rain after a quick read. We found a restaurant in Franz Josef, accepting that we would pay higher prices in these remote areas, and sat down to eat. It wasn't anything special but it saved cooking when we arrived at our accommodation. Had the weather been favourable, we would have walked up to see the Franz Josef glacier but as it was still pouring, we got back in the car and drove on to the even smaller town of Fox Glacier, which was about half an hour further down the road. We checked straight in to our accommodation and called it a night, as it was clear the weather wasn't going to get any better. We played some cards before heading to bed. Our fingers were still crossed for a break in the weather the following morning.
Friday 27th January
The weather wasn't perfect when we awoke but it had stopped raining. We contemplated our plans over our breakfast of corn fritters and eggs. All of a sudden, a small patch of blue sky was spotted out the kitchen window of our cabin. It was only getting bigger too, so we hastily got our things together and drove out to where the walk to Fox Glacier started. It was about 9 o'clock but it was still incredibly quiet. We got what we needed and started the walk towards the glacier viewpoint. Thanks to the recent heavy rain, the rivers we had to hop across were rather swollen and most of us ended up with wet feet. About half way to the viewpoint, we heard a sound that we couldn't place and so assumed was a sightseeing helicopter flying overhead. A little further on we could hear it clearer and were confident it wasn't actually a helicopter. Charlotte spotted a cloud of dust coming down the mountains and then noticed that it was being caused by a few huge rocks rolling down the mountainside, heading straight for us. We didn't know whether to continue on or turn back, so stuck with it and carried on to the viewpoint. Along the way, we passed a couple of DoC (department of conservation) workers watching the rockfalls to make sure they didn't effect the pathway. When we made it to the viewpoint, we could hear and see and second rockfall coming down the mountain, in a different location to the first. Once we'd seen enough of the glacier and taken the photos we'd wanted, we started the walk back to the car, just as it was starting to rain again. It seemed as though we'd managed to get the only gap in the weather to view the glacier, so we were pretty happy. On our way back, we were stopped by one of the DoC workers and were told we would have to wait to be escorted back to the car park as it wasn't currently safe to walk along the pathway due to the rockfalls. We waited patiently in the rain for the second DoC worker to return and relieve the other one to take us back. It was a bit of a scramble across rocks and streams but we all made it back to the start to find that the walk had actually been closed completely and the gate had been shut to stop access. This didn't seem to stop people though and they were jumping the fence, seeming to assume that us returning from the walk meant that it was still accessible. With the weather and the rockfalls, we'd got there just in time and were relieved that we'd managed to see one of the glaciers.
From Fox Glacier, it was a rain soaked drive down the west coast until we reached the tiny town of Haast. For some strange reason Mum seemed to love it but the rest of us couldn't see what was so appealing. Haast is famous for one thing, sandflies. We'd avoided them pretty well so far and we did so in Haast but the swarms on the west coast are legendary, so Haast would be on the last places in New Zealand I'd pick to live. It's also incredibly remote, being about a 3 or 4 hours drive in either direction to reach the nearest supermarket. We stopped off in a roadside café and filled up on coffee and the west coast delicacy of whitebait fritters. There is so much hype in New Zealand around whitebait but the fritters were somewhat of a disappointment, served on spongy white bread and resembling an omelette. After our unsatisfactory lunch we started the drive through the Haast pass towards the town of Wanaka. We made a couple of stops along the way and a couple of waterfalls, encountering one or two sandflies as we did and then ploughed on through. We didn't stop at Wanaka, instead we carried on over the crown range road and descended in to Queenstown, where we were staying for a couple of nights. When we checked in to the Blue Pekas Lodge we were more than pleasantly surprised with the size of the room and were pleased with our choice. We were centrally located and so wandered in to town, relieved to finally see a long break in the weather. We wandered round the streets of Queenstown and enjoyed the pleasant harbour area before deciding it was time for some dinner. With Queenstown being a tourist town, it was no surprise to see inflated prices. We eventually found a place doing a 2 for 1 deal on pizzas so opted for there. It was called The London and was located in a dimly lit basement. They served good sized beers and the pizzas were delicious, so we had no complaints. We strolled back to the room after dinner, and continued with our mammoth game of gin rummy.
Saturday 28th January
We'd told mum and dad that they had to be up bright and early and ready to be in town for a surprise we had lined up. They had to guess how to dress as we weren't giving any clues away. Thankfully, the weather had been kind for once, and although it was a fresh morning, we could tell it was going to be a beautiful day. They had an inkling of what the surprise might be but we were also confident that that was completely wrong. When we arrived at the bike rental shop, they admitted their guess of a jet boat ride was way off. We booked 4 mountain bikes for 5 hours from 8 o'clock. We were all fitted for helmets and ready to go. The first stretch of the ride was a scenic jaunt down the shore of Lake Wakatipu to the town of Frankton, where we paused for a breather on a small beach. We were all suffering from cold hands but we're confident that we'd get warmer as we went on. From Frankton, we crossed highway 6 and ran along the banks of the Kawarau river and past the airport. The reverse of the route we were taking had been a huge favourite of Rodney the dog, when we'd taken him for walks when we'd wwoofed over the winter. The route took us past some of the lesser visited parts of Queenstown, such as the sewerage works but was still a lovely thing to do on a beautiful Saturday morning. We had one final ascent up a fairly steep hill to our final destination of Shotover bridge. Our initial goal had been Arrowtown but that turned out to be far too optimistic. We took 20 minutes to rest on the historic wooden bridge, before heading off back in the direction of Queenstown. Along the way we stopped for a coffee at a shopping centre café before cycling the rest of the way back to town, via Queenstown Gardens. We arrived just short of our scheduled 13:00 return time, which was perfect for lunch. When in Queenstown, everyone (so people say) needs to try a Fergburger, so that's where we headed for lunch. All of us but Charlotte got one, whilst she got a pie from Fergbaker next door. The burgers were top notch and just the ticket after a 25km bike ride. That wasn't the day finished for us though. We headed back to the motel, picked the car up and drove out to the old gold mining town of Arrowtown, a 10 minute drive from Queenstown. Arrowtown was nice and easy to explore, as everything is situated along one road. We popped in and out of the various shops, before stopping for a beer at one of the numerous cafes. Mum and dad were struggling to understand just how there were so many Chinese tourists wherever they looked but they had learned that that was just New Zealand. They arrive in their coach loads and swamp small, scenic town such as Arrowtown. Ironically, just before leaving Arrowtown, we had a quick look at the Chinese settlement nearby, which had been built when Chinese immigrants had arrived during the gold rush days. This seemed to be the only part of town that wasn't overrun with Chinese tourists. We left around 5 o'clock and were happy to call it a day. Charlotte and I had agreed to cook up a chilli for dinner, in order to allow mum and dad to relax for the evening. Despite it almost being a disaster, mum heaped praise on our chilli saying “it's as good as mine”, which was a huge compliment. After dinner, we continued with our card game, with dad edging ever closer to an inevitable win.
James and Charlotte
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