January 5-7 from Anne

Day 34 – Jan. 5 – Franz Josef Glacier to Haarst

There must not be much theft here, for the doors on some of the motels we’ve stayed in have the kind of locks that you just push in a button that’s on the knob, the kind you can open with a credit card. Most of the homes have no central heat, so when it gets cold, they simply put on more clothes. Some of the rooms have little heaters that sit on the floor, so they can heat individual rooms.

Last night we had ‘Johnny Cash BBQ’d ribs’ so when we got up this morning we weren’t very hungry. I popped a couple of apricots into my mouth and off we went up the trail to the Franz Josef glacier. When I saw it last night driving in, I’d thought it was laughably small. Today we walked all the way up to it and I have a lot more insight into this glacier that a country is built around. It is in a rain forest. It rains on it nearly every day. How in the world can a glacier continue to exist when it’s rained on every day of the summer? But there it is.

The walk is mostly flat, through the detritus of 15,000 years of the glacier’s melting and dropping its rocks and boulders and pebbles as it withdrew. A river flows out from under the bottom of the glacier, carrying the lifeblood of the glacier out to the sea. People of all sizes, shapes, and ages, dressed in blue look-alike parkas and wearing crampons, were strung out on the face of the glacier and perched upon each pinnacle and crag of its surface as far as we could see. And more were coming up the trail. This is a VERY popular attraction.

When we got back to the trailhead, we headed south along the west coast towards Haast. There are almost no towns, houses, or people for miles and miles. But the coast is among the most scenic we’ve seen yet. Around every bend was a jaw-dropping scene of pounding surf against jagged rocks or rolling up onto curving white sandy beaches. At one stop we could see a couple of seals cavorting in the surf, just black dots from our vantage points. There are supposedly penguins along here but we didn’t want to hike the 3 or so miles to see them, after our hike this morning.

We are making about 85 miles a day on average. That sounds embarassingly miniscule, but there is so much to see along the way, we stop so often for photos, and the roads are so curvy, we can’t make very good time. Today we made it to Haast, a wide spot in the road, but the last town before we leave the coast and head inland, bound for Queenstown, and there are hardly any towns along the way. We’re supposed to be able to see Mt. Cook from this neck of the woods, but the clouds have been so low all day, we haven’t seen hide nor hair of it.

They had a good café hooked into the motel, and I had my first venison. I thought it was delicious but Joe decided Bambi was safe from him forever. We splurged and ordered dessert. After sitting and waiting for about a half-hour, Joe went to the room and got the Scrabble game to give us something to do whilst we waited. Finally, after almost a whole game, the waitress came over to us and told us the chef had lost our order and handed us a huge helping of apple crumble, probably double in size as a guilt gift.

Day 35 – Jan. 6 – Haast to Wanaka

Woke up to the sounds of POURING rain. Guess Mt. Cook won’t stick its head out for us today either. The road we took from Haast goes over a pass, and was only built in 1965. Until 40 years ago, nobody could see the gorgeous scenery we saw today unless they rode a donkey or walked. It is some of the most spectacular sights of braided rivers with high, rugged mountains coming right down to the valley floor, and of clear streams falling hundreds of feet down the sides of mountains before they linked up with the river.

After 3 hours of driving, we reached the town of Wanaka, situated on one of the most picturesque lake imaginable. The mountains come right down to the lake’s edge in places, and in other places flat river deltas reach out into the lake, with cows and sheep grazing in pastures. The town is jammed with merry-makers of all ages roaming the streets, ice cream cones in hand, in bathing suits, on bicycles, pushing strollers, everywhere. Felt like Coney Island must. Never been there.

Of all the places we’ve been, this town is the one where I think I could stay put for months. Much of the ‘Lord of the Rings’ trilogy was filmed in this area. It looks a lot like the Highlands of Scotland with its barren, bleak hills. But the beauty is stupendous. It has any kind of restaurant you might want. A golf course that looks lovely from the street, has views out over the lake and to the mountains, and costs only $30 US to play.

It’s VERY windy, with whitecaps on the lake and sailboats zinging across the waves at top speed. Clouds are low on the tops of the mountains around us, keeping us from seeing the whole beauty of the area. If it’s this windy tomorrow, it might keep us from playing golf, as we hope to do.

Day 36 – Jan. 7 – Wanaka

Woke up to clear skies and a gentle breeze, good golf weather. Headed for the Wanaka Golf Course at 10 am and got a game with another couple, Eve and Richard Janes, residents of Wellington but who have a house here, too. As are all the people we’ve met and played golf with, they are delightful. Turns out they also know well the lady with whom we played golf at Royal Wellington, since they both live in the Hutt Valley of north W’ton and both play golf. Another small world coincidence.

When we play golf, it usually means an extra day of being in a town. It is a nice way to break up the constant traveling and endless sightseeing, not to mention packing and unpacking yet again. We don’t have to make a decision as to what sights to see, just which course to play, which is usually no choice at all. We are debating as to whether or not to play the Tarras course nearby. It’s only 9 holes, and ‘shares fairways with grazing sheep and you have to hop the fence to have a putt. The locals love it.’ The only reason in the world I’d ever want to play it is to tell people we’d played it so we could laugh about it.

Did laundry. Not a very exciting day.