The Wild, Wild West!

On Sunday after a challenging morning climbing session, we headed out on our drive down the west coast.  We'd been told that the west coast was New Zealand's wilder coast with dense jungle, unpredictable weather, and a stormy Tasman Sea.  As we headed down to Westport (pop 4,000 and the first big town on the coast), we drove down windy roads that paved a path through thick forests, and followed the Buller Gorge, a long river lined with cliffs and frothy with rapids.  As the day grew darker, a golden mist blanketed the mountains and lonely clouds hung just above the ground.  Finally, accompanied by a slight drizzle, we emerged in Westport where we found a sea-side cliff to park our car and sleep.  We cooked dinner and watched a movie in our van, falling in love with old Aquarius just a little bit more for having provided us with supreme accomodation.

We woke up to rain and Kiwi birds (national bird - without wings) wandering around our car hoping for a morsel of food.  After an internet stop in town (we'd been out of touch for a while!), we headed further down the coast with Greymouth as our next stop to check in with the Superbowl (who won, by the way?).  The coast line was stunning.  Steep cliffs and jungle served as a barrier to the tumtultuos waves.  We stopped breifly to check out the Pancake rocks and blowholes, stunning limestone rock that formed into what (doesn't really) looks like stacks of thin pancakes due to a weathering process.  Underneath the rocks are blowholes that create loud booms when the waves crash in and blow back out.

We finally made it to Greymouth and watched a bit of the game at a dodgy hotel sports bar where everyone silently watched on apart from the elderly couple quietly muttering about various plays in the corner.  Back on the road (this time Dimity behind the wheel!), we drove on to Franz Josef.  After a quick bite, we walked up a path to get our first view of the stunning glacier - a river of blue ice pouring out of green valleys.  Finally, we headed to a secluded spot to camp out...only it wasn't secluded.  Around 11pm, bulldozers and trucks with blaring, flashing lights zoomed into the river bank next to us to perform some kind of construction.  After sustaining the noise for half an hour, we got behind the wheel and headed to another spot in the midst of parked tour buses.

This morning we woke up to a view of snow-covered mountains reflected in a small pond!  We headed back to the glacier, this time walking all the way up to it (well, Nolan broke the rules and ran over the barrier to touch the ice as I stood by watching and reading a bulletin board adorned with an article about how two tourists were killed when trying to get a closer look...).  Now we're off to Wanaka and Queenstown for more climbing!!

Pics to come - working on a faster, better way to upload them!