It's been a while since we last posted but that's because we've been very busy enjoying many more wonderful adventures here in NZ. Tuesday afternoon found us doing a heli/hike of the Franz Josef glacier. If ever you want to do something like this, take the chance, no matter the cost. We were fully outfitted so no worries about not having the correct gear. A short 10 minute helicopter ride took us way up the glacier --- way beyond where even the full day hikers go! We disembarked and met our fantastic guide, AJ who took us on a fantastic 2 hour hike of the glacier. What an experience; even the pouring down rain couldn't dampen (pardon the pun) anyone in our groups attitude. It is very hard to explain the feeling of standing on a ice field hundreds of metres up but awesome would be a good word! Incredibly beautiful and peaceful; especially neat when we heard the rumble of falling ice! We can only hope we caught the true majesty of the glacier through our many photos!
After coming back down to earth, we headed for the Fr. Josef hot pools which were very conveniently located across the road from our motel. Gorgeous hot pools, the hottest at 40 degrees. A wonderful way to warm up from our time on the glacier! Much less human traffic than the Hanmer Springs pools which was nice!
Wednesday was our last morning in Fr Josef so we did one final walk, The Douglas Walk, which took us up to Peter's Pool, a reflecting pool. This pool was named for a boy named Peter who at the young age of 9 went camping beside it all by himself. Not bad for a 9 year old; to have a gorgeous lake named in your honour!
From Fr Josef we made our way to Haast. Yet another stunning drive south along the west coast. Around every turn (hair pin and otherwise) was yet another gorgeous view. We lunched beside lovely Lake Paringa --- Tim Tams for dessert. If you've never had a Tim Tam, off to your local Loblaws and treat yourself --- but leave some for us!!!!!!!!!!!!! On the advice of a native NZer we met, we stopped at Shipp Creek and did a great dune, beach, lagoon walk. For the most part, we had the gorgeous beach to ourselves.
We finally arrived in Haast, or really Hannah's Clearing, which is 19km outside of Haast. This is where we spent Wednesday and Thursday, at Hannah's Homestead! Haast is gorgeous but in order to really appreciate it, you need to love wilderness and be fine with leaving the shopping, fine dining, etc. behind. We spent our first afternoon walking the beach; beautiful and again, remote, but never warm enough to become a summer playground. Dinner was served at our B&B which was great fun as in total we were 9 people, one of whom was Neil the owner. A great evening drinking, eating and meeting people from around the world! Next morning we were up and off to do a 4 hour hike to Smoothwater Bay. Hike is not actually an accurate term for what we did; bushwhacking, wading through very chilly waters and rappelling would better describe our outing! A little nerve wracking at times but finally arriving at the bay was worth the journey as it was yet another hidden gem! After all our hard work, we treated ourselves to fantastic fish and chips at The Cray Pot (in Jackson's Bay). If ever you find yourself in this part of NZ, off you go to see Maggie for she will feed you well! Andreas had an exploding chocolate doughnut for dessert. Nothing like it ever served at Tim's, that's for sure!!!!!!!!!!! That night we watched the sun set from Haast Beach, very conveniently located to our B&B, then another great dinner with Neil and gang!
The next morning, Friday, saw us up and heading further south to Wanaka. Along the way, we stopped at Roaring Billy falls and then at The Blue Pools. The Blue Pools are on the list of 100 things one must see when visiting New Zealand and we now know why. Gorgeous is the only way to describe them, besides being very popular. Then on to Wanaka.
Wanaka is lovely, surrounded by Lake Wanaka and the drive into the city centre is breathtaking with the lake on your right surrounded by the peaks of Mt. Aspiring. A lot of NZers holiday here as there are activities galore from water sports to bungy jumping to mtn. biking to skiing in the winter. We visited the local i site (information) where we had our accommodation for our final 3 nights in this part of the world booked along with a visit to a sheep station which will be part of our Queenstown visit. Then off to play Golf Cross. Golf Cross was developed by a NZer but if it will become as popular as bungy jumping is yet to be seen. It's golf with goals, not holes, and the ball is oval shaped. You do play with golf clubs. Andreas proved to be quite good at this; me, not so!
Today we enjoyed the Rob Roy Glacier walk (hike as far as we were concerned). You drive about an hour out of Wanaka, much of the drive done on a rough (bone rattling, teeth jarring rough) road all the while watching out for huge boulders, fords to cross, sheep to avoid as they cross from one side of the road to the next! Very worth it though because the views from the walk, beginning with the stroll through the meadow full of cows are spectacular. Up and up you climb, with the glacier in front of you and a glacial river below you. The weather cooperated 100%; not too hot, brilliantly blue sky with not a cloud anywhere. Once at the top, you soak in all the majesty of your surroundings --- and then down you go to check on the cows. What a day.
Now it's time to head to our great B&B, Beacon Point, to relax and get ready for yet another yummy dinner --- with more tasty NZ wines to be tried. They sure know how to make good wine here, on the other side of the globe!
Until our next post, be good and have fun.
Photo taken on Franz Josef Glacier.
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