The Wild West Coast

Well, I made it back to Hamilton in one piece. Barely. My feet were cut up and ached, I felt like I hadn't slept properly in three weeks, and I'm starting to wonder if I should throw some of my clothes away (okay slight exaggeration). But that's what living out of a backpack (or two in my case) for almost three weeks does to you. Needless to say that I will really have to prepare myself (and probably get a new pack) if I want to backpack around the world some day. I have come back sick of sharing rooms with Walker and six others, sick of packing and repacking my clothes every morning, and ready to sleep in my own crumby bed. Hey, at least its mine.

I'm sure at this point you're thinking the trip stunk. Quite the contrary. It was one of the greatest experiences of my life. But more reflection later. Let's return to the summary of my travels.

When I last left you, I had just found Walker in Abel Tasman and was ready to hop on the Magic Bus. The Magic Bus was everything I expected. A cheap bus with a driver who is instructed to talk about every pebble on the side of the road. Such is life on a tour bus. But was I complaining? Nope. They were getting me around the South Island "cheap as" so I was as happy as a pig in the mud on a hot summers day.

Our first stop on the Magic Bus was Greymouth, a sleepy old gold town. We got there pretty late and headed off for a local brewery tour soon after. The tour was followed by a bus mixer, which was pretty fun I must say. Cheap drinks in a town with nothing else to do is always a good time. We headed out early the next morning for glacier country.

One thing that is great about the Magic Bus is the stops that they make along the way. They bring you to a lot of places that are hard to get to or that you may not have even thought to go to. Some are good just to get a cup of coffee or stretch your legs. Yet others are some of the most beautiful places that you have ever seen. Which brings me to a good point...

Why is this post titled "The Wild West Coast"? To be honest, I have no clue. That's what its known as here in New Zealand. Why is it so wild? Well again I know why they call it that, but I had the great fortune of not experiencing it at all. They call it the Wild West Coast because it has some of the most unpredictable weather in the country. My friends that followed me on later buses can vouch for this. But our bus? Nothing but sunshine baby, and I could not have been more thrilled. Even our bus driver said that there was a one in a million shot that we would have clear skies from Nelson to Queenstown in the Winter. But we did. We saw views thought to be unseeable on the west coast. Some of the most picturesque views of the Southern Alps that you can possibly have the fortune of finding. And we saw 'em. I don't know what I did to deserve that weather, but I must have done something right.

But back to the travels. We made a pit stop along the way at a place called Pancake Rocks. Now, I had seen some of these in Raglan, and was less than enthusiastic about wasting my time seeing them again. I'm kicking myself for that attitude these days. These rocks were so much more amazing than the ones in Raglan. The whole area was covered in the things. There is just something so serene about watching the water hit the rocks. Amazing.

After that we headed on to Franz Josef, in the heart of glacier country. Now, there isn't much to do in Franz Josef except hike glaciers. A lot of people skydive in the area too-it is considered by many to be the second coolest place to do it in the world behind some hill called Everest in Nepal. We knew that we had to do a glacier walk. Now there are two choices in glacier country, Fox and Franz. Franz is the more well known glacier, but moved so much (this tends to happen with glaciers) that a big hole formed in the middle of it. All of this to say, you have to heli-hike it these days and we were more interested in hiking right onto the glacier, so we went to Fox (it was also cheaper not to have to use a helicopter). Here is what makes the glaciers so unique and such an attraction. These two glaciers are two of three glaciers in the world, that end in a deciduous climate. Hence, why you can hike on them without freezing your butt off. The hike itself was awesome. We strapped our crampons on and went right up onto the face of the glacier. Ice has a tendency to do some pretty crazy and spectacular things. We climbed through holes, looked down into caves and drank the water. It was all a very unique experience that words really cannot do justice. Look forward to the pictures coming up in the photo blog!

We got a little bored that night, and ended up just kicking it in the hostel-Chateau Franz-and playing some board games. It was here that I got to know two guys that I think are really worth mentioning here. The first was an Englishman named Richard, who went to Australia on a work visa and never went back. Well, he was finally heading home and was stopping in New Zealand along the way. He isn't that significant of a character just yet, but remember the name. The second was a Frenchman by the name of Guilliume (that's a rough spelling guess). He stuck with me all the way to Christchurch, and we really hit it off. Easily the nicest Frenchman that I have ever met, and listening to him pronounce words was always great for a good laugh. The funniest was when he tried to explain "tea-bagging" to me, but that's a story for another time.

Before we headed out of Fox, we stopped at the famous Lake Matheson, or mirror lake. I've never seen anything like it. Maybe it was us getting lucky with the sunshine again, but the Alps reflected perfectly on the lake. It made for some very cool pictures (again, coming soon).

We then headed on to the ski town of Wanaka. Not much to do there but ski, but the mountains are set right behind the lakes, and it made for an awesome sunset.


Well, as you may be able to tell I am getting a bit sleepy and I am sure you are also tired of hearing about my adventures for the night. Have a great end to the week!


Coming Soon: BUNGY, Queenstown, and Central Otago!