ok so anywho...back to my life upside-down. So I only had a one night lay over at my flat, and by 8am on Sunday I was already gone again. When I got to the ferry, the terminal was COMPLETELY empty and the workers behind the counter were all like, are you trying to make the 8:25 ferry? and almost in a panic. It was 8:15 and I said, yes I was. Well, they all were like FREEKEN out because the last moment to check you bags (for a ferry....I still don't understand that) was 8:15. But the group I was meeting was NO WHERE to be seen, so I had no idea about how I was going to find my boarding pass. Well, the man who was checking my luggage asked my name so he could look up my boarding pass and as I said my name another woman walked over and handed me a boarding pass. Thank God my friends knew enough to leave my boarding pass with someone behind the counter. Well, I wasn't too worried about making the ferry when I left the flat at 8, but when I got there I basically sprinted up the gang way, and at the top the man told me I was the last person to board the ferry. So I made it and found my friends so all was all right, but wow did the people at the ferry terminal freak me out. My friends asked why I didn't answer my cell phone, and I realized I had turned it off because I had left my charger somewhere in Australia and was trying to conserve the battery. It was funny when I turned it back on though, I have never heard a cell phone beep so much lol!
When we got to Picton, it was about 12pm. We picked up the car from the terminal, and were on our way by 1:30pm. I took the first shift (which turned out to be the only shift) since I was the only person who had driven on the other side of the road before. We drove down the west coast to Frans Joseph, which is the location for one of the three tropical glaciers in the world. It was a nine hour drive down the coast on very windy roads. We did stop at a few spots, but no one seemed anxious to take over the wheel, so I just kept on driving. It didn't matter much to me, my co-pilot was awesome and I got to choose the music, so I was set. We stopped at a very nice beach at sunset and also got over to the pancake rocks at Punakaiki by dusk, but it got dark fast, so we didn't get any good pictures of them. But they were still cool to see. After dark, I was very glad I was the one driving, becuase we hit a few places where there were heaps of traffic cones and reflectors and whatnot, we drove through them fine, but there was one section of the road where it was one lane around a few curves in the mountain. I beeped my horn a few times to let any cars that there might be on the other side that I was already driving through, because there was no way that I was going to start backing up the road if any cars started coming at me! At one point down this stretch of road I looked over to see why the other lane was not drivable and saw that there was no lane, only a few parts of the white line were visible. It looked like something out of Jurassic park or something, since the other side of the road was completely gone!!! I just kept on driving and was happy everyone in the back was asleep. The next day during our hike, our guide asked if anyone had driven down from the north and I said yes at night! The rest of the group was surprised to find out that the road had been washed out by a big storm they had had a few weeks ago. But we got into Frans Joseph safely at about 9:45pm, but realized when we got there no one had written down the name of the hotel!!!!!! So we pulled into a hotel that sounded like the right name and asked if they had our reservation. They didn't, but the man felt bad for us, so let us use their internet to find the name of the hotel we were really staying at. It wasn't too hard to find the confirmation e-mail, so by 10:30pm we had found the hotel and were settling into our new digs.
The next day was the big day in Frans Joseph. We had signed up for an all day hike on the glacier, so we were up and ready by 8:15 and managed to be on the bus by 9 to the glacier. The hike was amazing. It took about an hour and a half to get to the ice face, but once we were there we had 6 hours of ice time! Our guide was really nice, but it was hard to take pictures since we were moving most of the time, and I only had my big camera. So I only took a few pictures. But it was an amazing experience. The glacier was sooooo cool, but not really temperature wise. As soon as you stopped moving you realized how cold it was, but as you were walking it wasn't cold at all. At lunch, I filled my water bottle up with some glacial water (which stayed cold for the rest of the day....by 10pm it was still refreshing!) and throughout the trip ate glacial ice....which it totally fine since the glacier is completely fresh water. But we saw HUGE cracks and crevasses. Initially, I had wished my parents had been there because it was just so amazing, but after a few views of some big cracks I was glad they weren't with me because I don't think mom would have been able to deal with the height lol. After lunch our guide got really excited because they had found a newly formed cave, so during lunch he was off putting in ice screws and ropes so that we could go down and see it. I thought I would be dying by the end of the hike, but living in Wellington had prepared me for the all day hike, and I ended up not even being sore! I was surprised. Totally worth it, and I would definitely recommend doing a glacial walk if anyone ever makes it to the West coast of the south island in NZ. Both Frans Joseph and Fox are two of the three tropical glaciers, which means that the ice is surrounded by a temperate rainforest. The only other place you can find this type of glacier is in Chile (I think).
So that night, we took it easy and went into town for some dinner. After dark, we took a walk down to some forest trails to see glow worms. They were pretty cool, and all over the trees, when I first looked up I thought they were stars, but then I realized they were the glow worms lol.
The next day was our last full day on the west coast so we drove to Fox glacier, where we met up with a few other friends from our program. We had breakfast with them, and then went off to do some of our own hiking. We walked around Fox glacier for a while but didn't go up on it. Most of those path ways had also been washed out by the storm, so we only hung around for an hour or so. Though we did find a cool suspension bridge, and took some pictures on it too! We also walked around Lake Mathasen, a short drive away, and I think I discovered where the creators of Myst got inspiration for the Channelwood age. (Ok I am showing my dorkyness now lol) Check out the pictures....I couldn't believe how similar they looked. There was one point, where we walked out to a small island in the lake and I thought I was actually in Channelwood (well not really....but it looked an awful lot like it!). Afterwards, we went back and grabbed some lunch and just relaxed for a few hours. At sunset, we took a walk up to a cave to see more glow worms, but didn't get very far in because the cave had a creek flowing through it and no one wanted to get their shoes wet. We had an early evening since we needed to get up early so that we could take the scenic route to Christchurch the next day.
We had decided that we didn't just want to retrace our steps and drive north to get to Christchurch, so we left at 7:15am and drove south down to Wanka to see the lake, and then back up to see Lakes Pukaki and Tekapo before getting to Christchurch by 6pm. It was a really nice all day drive and even though I had already seen most of it from my last trip, it was really beautiful to see again. Especially since it was the area where most of the New Zealand wineries are and the vineyards were GORGEOUS and all the leaves were turning since it is autumn here. It was a really pretty drive. Thankfully, I did not drive the whole time, I just took the last leg, since I was the only one confident enough to drive in the "city." We checked in to our hostel, and then met up with one of our kiwi friends who lives in Christchurch. He took us all out to dinner (and felt really cool showing 5 girls around the city). The one guy in our group was also happy to finally have another guy around....I think he was getting a little tired of all of us. lol After dinner we were all pretty tired after a long day of driving and by 10:30pm we were all out!
It was awesome to have more time in Christchurch. The city is really cool. The next day we walked around the botanical gardens and the old college in the northern part of the city. I also got to go punting down the Avon...thankfully the water is VERY shallow, so the pole never got stuck lol. We even scraped bottom at one point. But it was a nice time around the city. That night three of us went up to Ko Tane, which is a touristy Maori marae in Christchurch. One of the girls that was with us wasn't part of our program, and so hadn't seen anything about traditional Maori powhiris and such. So a few of us went up there to see that. Ko Tane is also part of a wildlife sanctuary, so after the Powhiri we went over to the wildlife part of the area and saw kiwis up close and personal. Unlike the last time I saw kiwis in Christchurch, these were not behind glass. They were behind a fence, but the fence wasn't even as high as my knees. You don't have to worry about them getting out though, since they are a flightless bird lol. At one point, one of the kiwis poked my foot through the chicken wire when it was looking for worms by the fence. It is illegal to touch a kiwi, but not if they touch you, so I felt very lucky. You can't take pictures of them though, because not only will the flash scare them, it is also bad for their eyes since they are nocturnal. In the sanctuary we also got to see other indigenous birds and animals to NZ. I was really happy I went. Afterwards, we met up with the rest of our friends and had an awesome time painting the town red.
The next day, the group had found this ropes corse about a half hour out of the city, so we went and spent most of our day there. It was a lot of fun, but after the 4th course (they were rated 1-6 in difficulty and height) I was getting tired, and the ropes were getting just a little to high for me. A few members got finished with 5 but then decided that it was also getting to much for them, so we all decided to leave after that. Back in Christchurch, we went to the best Mexican restaurant I have found so far in NZ, however it wasn't as good as On the Border, so you can tell the calibre of mexican food I have found up until then! The chips weren't even bottomless.....I was still disappointed. But the food was actually good, so it wasn't all bad. I have just decided that NZ is too far away from Mexico to actually get good mexican food....so I will just have to wait to get back stateside for good mexican food. Oh how I miss Moes and/or New World!! (strange note...New World is the name for the super markets here, if only I could get a decent flat wrap there lol) I had a lazy evening, since after dinner the group went on a haunted house tour. Thankfully, another girl in the group doesn't like them either. So we hung out together around the room.
Our last day on the South Island was mostly driving again. We were able to sleep in a little, and were on the road by 9am for our 5 hour drive to Picton again. I did the whole drive, which wasn't too bad. The only problem now is that since I did so much driving this week, I am now TOTALLY used to driving on the left side of the road. When I went to go see Wolverine this week (which parts were shot in NZ just FYI) and they drove on the right side, IT LOOKED WRONG TO ME!!!! OH NO so it will be interesting when I get home. Hopefully, its like riding a bike and I won't try and jump in the passenger's side when I want to drive the jeep lol. We stoped in Kikura for about an hour for lunch and such. It was a little cloudy though so after lunch we all got back in the car and got up to Picton around 4. Our ferry was at 6 and we didn't need to give the car in until 5, so we walked around Picton for a while, a few of us even got in a game of mini golf. By 5:30 we had given the car in and were on the ferry back home. We got in at about 9:30 and I was home by 10pm. And then at 3 or 4am I was woken up by the mouse eating my Tam tams that I had forgotten were in my room from when I got back from Australia. But that is another story.
It was an awesome trip and I am glad I went, I am just sad that I won't be able to see ANY of the North Island. Oh well! I guess I will just have to come back at some point to see the rest of it! lol
Cheers!
~Marjorie
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