As cold as ice ...

We've been on the road in NZ just over 2 weeks now. The little van is going strong and has got us down through the north island, and half way down the west coast of the south island.

On the way down we popped into the Waitomo Caves for a spot of blackwater rafting. This involved us donning full body wetsuits, rubber boots and shoving our behinds into a rubber tube. We descended into the cave system, jumped into the underground stream and floated along towed by our guides. Yep, no effort here. Upon turning off our head torches we could see thousands of glowworms, small pinpoints of light up on the roof of the cave. It was superb, very relaxing. After floating along for a while we got to fall backwards off a waterfall (a small one). Surprisingly good fun, although the guides' advice to hold our breath for few seconds went unheeded due to the gasp when falling and we got a mouthful of water for our disobediance.

After the caves we headed south to Mount Taranaki, an active and snow covered volcano. Graeme, an auckland resident and neighbour of our good friend Lynn, like to say that if you can see it, it's going to rain and if you can't see it it's already raining. We waited half an hour for the clouds to part and show us the peak, reeled off a few shots, jumped in the van and got out of there. From there we headed to Wellington, capital of NZ and departure point for the south Island.

While waiting for the ferry we dropped on the national museum, Te Tapa (Our Place). The museum hosts a number of exhibits about the country, its inhabitants, flora and fauna, and how the island was formed. This was the best part of the museum for me with a whole array of buttons to press, levers to pull and stuff to play with to find out how NZ came about and how today half of it is going one way, and half in completely the opposite.

One pleasant, smooth, ferry crossing later saw us in Picton. From here we kitted up and hit the Queen Charlotte Track. The track is 71km walking trail from Ship Cove that follows the coastline of Marlborough Sound. Ship Cove was one of Captain Cooks favourite stopping off points on his various travels around the pacific. The start of the track was a bit of a shock to our legs, being 400m or so of upward climbing. It calmed a bit after that, and was pretty easy going on the second day as well. The third was the longest day, but with blue skies and fabulous views we got on alright. The hot tub at the hotel was a godsend as well. The last day was a rude shock though, with driving horizontal rain and wind soaking us to the bone for 2 hours while we toiled straight up a steep 487m ascent. It cleared up for us though and we enjoyed the last 15kms of the trail before resting up at the Blister'd foot, a very convienent cafe at the end.

After the track we had an easy day in Nelson, watched the latest Bond movie and didn't do a great deal. The day after we drove over to Farewell Spit, a massive sand bank extending in a curve from the top left corner of the south island. A bird reserve and break, it shelters the bay resulting in some very calm waters. We managed a couple of short walks before heading back to base.

After checking out the beautiful beaches of Abel Tasman national park the following day we stopped in Motueka over night, before heading southwest towards Westport and the west coast. It was here that we decided to book up our trips for the glaciers and encountered some of the most helpful tourist information staff we've had the pleasure of talking to on our travels.

With our tours booked we wandered down the coastal road, checking out the curious and strange pancakes rocks before stopping in Hokitika. We took a quick side trip around the local scenery, where we were amazed by the deep opaque blue colour of the glacial melt waters in the gorge. The following day we had a look around the green jade shops for which Hokitika is famous. Beccy picked out a very nice chunky necklace.

After that it was on to Franz Josef and the glacier. We had decided to go all out and do 2 trips on the ice, the first a full day walk and the second some ice climbing. The walk took us up onto the ice, through tight crevasses and tunnels to check out some spectacular ice formations and deep iridiscent blues of the hard packed ice. The climbing meant we got to put on lethal looking crampons, pick up a couple of ice axes and clamber our way up some vertical walls of ice. Both trips were a blast, completely different but equally satsifying.

We're now sorting through the snaps (100's of them) for the website, sucking back a cold beer and watching the cricket. Yes, we've kept abreast of the latest happening in australia ... not a lot can be said about that really.

matt

posted by Matt, Monday, December 18, 2006.