Of glaciers and waterfalls and lakes and big open skies

Looking at the skies here, you would never know that NZ had had not one but two tropical cyclones in the space of a month.

And even though it is the height of summer, there have been fresh snow falls - creating lots of headaches for park ranges who are busy closing some of the walking tracks in anticipation of the localised flooding to start in the next day or two as that snow melts into the local streams.

We slept in until just after 8 this morning and once we heard Joan and Rodney up and about, rose and showered.  Joan was making a coffee and offered us one as well.  Nice, strong coffee, and hot!

There was a young Chinese couple staying in Joan's other room.  Saw nothing of them last night and this morning they surfaced just in time to leave.  Joan tried to engage them, to no avail.  The young lass was more talkative than her male partner, and we at least learned that they were from Shanghai!  Funnily enough, we ran into them a couple of times later in the day and the journey as well.  

Down in Franz Joseph looking in to flights over the glaciers, we sat in for breakfast to find them tucking in to thick steaks and salads. I know, I know, breakfast is the most important meal of the day - but that takes some beating!  Turns out that there is only one more flight today - this afternoon, and as we have a 5+ hour drive through to Arrowtown, 

the salesman's suggestion was that we (read Michael) takes the flight from the eastern side as we travel north later next week.

At the moment, NZ is filled with Chinese as travelling is seen as an auspicious way to start the Chinese New Year. And boy does their driving take the cake. Like many Japanese, they appear to be nervous of driving over 60 kph and when they come to a bend, any bend, the brakes are on and we crawl around at about 20 kph!  Makes for frustrated NZers and Aussies on the road.

And the other thing that the west side of the South Island is known for are its single lane bridges - actually gives northern Scotland a really good run for their money! I'll put you out of your misery and only include this one photo - although I am sure we have photos of 40 or more of them!

Michael is fascinated with glaciers and is keen to see both Franz Josef and Fox Glaciers.  So off to them we set.  He can get not quite within spitting distance at Franz Josef and is alarmed at how far it has retreated.  All the literature from the local Environment Department tells us that the viewing vantages are now all many hundreds of metres from the face of the Glacier. 
At the Fox Glacier a little further south, the path is closed even further back so he opts to climb to the top of the Sentinel Rock to get a good vantage point. Again it is shared with lots of Chinese - many whom are travelling with young children - predominantly girls.

Once he has had his fill of slowly creeping dirty ice, we continue our journey south.
The impact of not one but two cyclones is apparent in some places, with these buildings flattened.  Not sure whether Fehi or Gita did the damage - guess it really doesn't matter does it? 

The climate on the western side is much wetter and I guess it must also be a little warmer - there are myriads of fens and palms right along this stretch and heaps of waterfalls along the way and I think we call in at most to have a look.

There are some pretty amazing names given to these waterfalls too - Bride's Veil, Ninety Foot Falls, Roaring Billy Falls among others.  Along with Cyclone Gita came some rain (and snow) and so the many of the waterfalls are again at full flow. The fall into shallow and deep pools which topple into streams that eventually find their way to the sea.  

Rivers in this part of New Zealand meander across wide pebble filled beds - found only in a few parts of the world.  In the spring when the winter snows are melting, these becoming rushing torrents of water, covering the breadth of the beds, but for now, they quietly burble along, lazily washing over the stones, without the energy to carry them to the shorelines.

Before too long, we have come away from the mountain areas and are now travelling along the coast.  The skies are mainly clear with just a few picturesque cotton wool clouds for effect.  The waters are crystal clear and the most amazing aqua colour.  The sun is high, and gee, everything is right in my world right now!

We stop at a couple of the beaches - too cold for swimming but truly a welcome sight.  And the smell of the salt water is at once uplifting.

And while Paris and Venice and Sibiu might have their bridges of locks, the west coast of New Zealand have lots of cairns with quartz stones carved with lovers names and dates.  They dot the beaches and I wonder what some future archaeologist might make of them when in millenia to come they are washed up across a wide expanse! 

This is a very stormy part of the coast, open to prevailing onshore winds and the trees lean towards the inland, having been pushed and pushed by the wind.


Anyone who has a link to New Zealand has told us that we need to try the whitebait fritters.  Today, we found the first evidence of these little gems.  Caught in nets at the mouths of rivers in a short ten-week season, these little delicacies fetch $95 per kilo!  Mind you, there is a 25% tax on the commercial catch as well.
We pulled in to the Curly Tree Cafe where we do as instructed and honk twice and are soon joined by the gorgeous smiling Rachel who promptly pulls the lid off a smoking BBQ grill when we are ready to have our Whitebait PATTIES (not fritters, OK) which are simply a heap of whitebait mixed with a little egg to keep them together - think omelette like.
At $10 each, these small pancake-sized patties are not cheap, but served on warmed, buttered white bread, they are heavenly.  Locals eat them with mint sauce. We just used a small squeeze of lemon.
Wash them down with Bundaberg Brewed Drinks - another link to home. Around now Glenn arrives home and I cheekily comment that his cause is a lost one when he pushes a lawnmower over the stones on the drive.  He comes over for a chat and we soon learn more than we ever knew about whitebaiting.  Up for a chat any time Brian and Sally!!

By now it is well after 4 pm and we still have a few hours drive to reach Arrowtown. 
Rachel and Glenn had told us that if we go over the Crown Range Road we can save half an hour on the journey around the base of the range.  Might be so, but there are twists and turns all the way up the range that mean our average speed is between 40 and 50 kph.  Still, the scenery is amazing.  BIG open skies.  Rounded hills that lock in to each other. Land slips (including some very recent ones). Snow covered peaks at the back,and as we top the Coronet Peak range, the sun is setting over Lake Hayes - what a majestic end to the day.



We pull in to Scooter's Place found on AirBnB after 8 pm and she tells us that we should still be able to get a meal in town.  Off we head and call in to the only place we still find cooking - Postmasters where we feast on local seafood.
Scooters Place is stunning and very new, having only been open for 2 months.  Sadly, we only got this booking because of a cancellation and they cannot accommodate us for longer. :(

The day's forecast depends on which window you look out of

The skies are clear! Hallelujah!

Here at The Nook at Arthur's Pass, what you can expect from the day very much depends 

on which window you first look from. From the bed, a small window high in the wall offers an enticing view of snow capped peaks dazzling in the early morning light.  On the other hand, the view from the bathroom, while just as lovely, brings clouds slipping down the mountainside towards the stream that bubbles along behind the railway line. Until last night, that rail line was closed due to the cyclone, so overnight a number of freight trains crept through town, trying to make up lost time. Today the Alpine Express, the tourist train from Christchurch, recommences.  Not sure that I would want to bathe outside - although you are screened from the direct view of the road and rail below, I still think that I would be a nervous nellie!

Spent about 45 minutes searching for accommodation for tonight - finally settled on an Airbnb listing in Whataroa about 3 hours away. We set out right on 9 am.

Down to the National Parks Visitor Centre just down the road where we get the low down on the walks through the Arthur's Pass National Park.  One of the walk sections is closed after a metre of snow fell at the beginning of the week, coupled with rain and wind from the cyclone has caused a slip along the path.

Michael sets off to do the Devil's Punchbowl walk to the falls.  Gentle slope but a lot of stairs. Supposedly a 30 minute return walk.  He make it back just inside the hour.  He can't believe the number of Koreans and Chinese walking the path.  Of course, it is Chinese New Year, so they are here on holiday!

The next stage of the walk is the actual Arthur's Pass Walk and from the carpark where he leaves me, it is about 1.5 hours walk one way  to Jack's Hut a little higher up the mountain.  Thank goodness I didn't wait the 1.5 hours to drive up there.  Within 45 minutes of leaving the bottom, he is at the Hut car park!

The walk passes through a range of forest types with remnant antarctic beech forests that are heavily laden with mosses, to the start of the fir forests to dry scherophyll forests and even to the pampas grasses.  Once Michael arrives back to me he is filled with stories of the vistas and the snow capped peaks that are close even to touch.  The air is filled with a thousand new smells - many of them as old as the trees - literally. There is that wonderful earthy, truffley smell that is just so enticing!

From Jack's Hut we continue up and over the Pass, pausing to take a look at the Obelisk to Arthur Dobson - one of the two brothers who pioneered this country.  And then it is on to the Otira Viaduct which was completed in 1999 following the crash of a bus and the death of a child while travelling the switchbacks down the mountain.  Leading in to the bridge and to the south of it, the road is a very decent 16% slope - so it is down to second gear behind a cattle truck.

Once we are 'over the top', the vegetation changes quite dramatically - and quite quickly.  The more regular and heavier rainfall to the west of the mountains means that the forests are denser with more firs and eucalpyts and lots and lots of ferns including large, lush tree ferns and may that we have never seen.  It amazes me that whole walls of ferns grow up the cliff faces above vehicle height, and yet at car or truck height, where they would be brushed against all the time, there are the smallest of petite little varieties that hug the cliff face away from the danger of being scraped off!

We head for Hokitaki, pausing at an interesting homage to bridges in NZ and part of the first Arahura Bridge.  Of course Michael is thrilled that he can again see those snow capped peaks!

We finally arrive in Hokitaki quite famished about 3:10 pm.  We head straight for a bank as NZ eftpos points do not like our Australia debit card!  Then just a few shops away we spy the Stone Oven Bakery and Cafe.  Man o man were we in for a treat.  Their sign says that they specialise in Butter Chicken Pies.  And they were right. Those pies were some of the best that we have ever tasted and the coffee was strong and hot. 

We needed fuel and almost had a coronary when we saw how much the price of fuel is here - it might explain the number of cyclists that we are seeing - making fun of them as they climb crazy slopes!  And yes, the photo is not a mistake, it DOES say $2.07 per litre. And of course the hire car company insists on us using U95 which is $2.23 litre.

There is nothing worse than not having a water supply in the car, so we stock up with water, fruit and crackers at the local supermarket - again, can't believe the cost of living.

Hokitaki is right on the ocean so a quick trip to the beach and we see lots of driftwood piled high with local artists making the most of the ready resource.  Quirky and fun.  A stop at the local Greenstone store and a stone painter is also in order before we again turn the car south to head for Whataroa where we are staying in an Airbnb with Joan.  

She cautions us that there are not too many places for a meal here, and suggests that we eat before we get here.  But with those scrummy pies not long eaten, we take a chance on finding something open.  

Luckily the Whataroa Pub is still open and cooking.  We feast on freshly battered Gurnard with chips and salad.  SO good.  Finally at Joans with Roger the Poodle and Sumi the cat.  Just like being at home!