New Zealand Discoverer
Day Three – 28 February 2012 – Day of the Glacier
Weather: cloud, 18
A text message got me up at 4 a.m.
Not to self. Leave the phone in the luggage. Buried. Deep.
I slept right to 7 am and I had like 2 hours left on my internet and knew I wouldn’t get it used up. I went down for breakfast at 8 and it was pretty basic, but the real problem was that they would only put out like two servings of eggs and 6 hash browns, so I had to make about three trips just to get a full sized breakfast. Sausages were good. At the other hotels, they were more like hot dogs or Vienna Sausages.
Everyone was on time for the bus (great group for that) and we found our new seats. I was in the second last one. We started south with our first stop in Hokitika to visit a jade factory. It’s a small town of 3700 that we toured by driving down one street. The bus parked and we went into the jade factory. Nice part about this was that it was just a rest stop at the factory right on the tiny town’s main street. There was no tour, just a basic “hello” from the staff and we were free to go watch the jade be carved or go out on the street and get something to eat or shop. Absolutely no pressure whatsoever.
The same with the optionals. She told us about the ones for Queenstown when we have a day free and she was quite open about which ones people found over-priced or not as interesting as one would expect etc as well as the ones that everyone enjoys. She even said she’d arrange sky-diving or bungee jumping if we wanted it.
Yeah. Right.
I picked up some jade necklaces. This is what the New Zealanders call greenstone. It’s found in boulders in the rivers near the mountains and is owned by a local tribe who often have dealers pay them royalties so that the dealers can take a helicopter up the river bed, find a boulder and carry it back. The jade is formed when serpentine rock is exposed to heat and pressure under the Earth’s crust and tectonic forces drive that rock up into the mountains where it erodes and moves down the river systems.
After I got my jade, I found a couple of t-shirts and a delicious brownie. I saw a jade cat in one of the stores – a tiny one like I got in China, but the one in China cost me about $10. This store wanted $40.
Hokitika is home to an annual festival called the Wild Food Fair. Guess what that is about.
It’s a place that Joe Rogan would love. People get to sample just about anything from Mountain Oysters (do I need to tell you what they are? LOL) to chocolate worms to jelly insect shots.
I double checked my Coke to make sure there was nothing else in there.
We left for Franz Josef around 11:30 and Nellie passed around the mic so that everyone could give us their personal history. I counted two from South Africa, four from Australia, six from the UK and US and fifteen from Canada. We’re picking up another American couple in Queenstown for the leg of the trip as far as Christchurch.
Since this tour encompasses two tours – one of the south island and one of the north island, we expect to lose almost half the group after the south island is done and pick up a new couple in Wellington. Gonna be a lot of empty seats.
The forecast was for clearing skies but as we approached Franz Josef, the skies were not clearing. Nellie told us that the winds from the south (Roaring 40s) hit the mountains, rise, condense and drop a lot of water but by the time they clear the mountains, the moisture is pretty well gone. She said this coast can get 5 to 6 metres of rain a year.
Yes. I said metres.
En route, we made a bathroom stop at a little spot where a replica of a bi-plane is housed. The plane belonged to Guy Menzies who, at a very young age, decided he wanted to fly across the Tasman Sea from Australia, solo in a bi-plane.
Hey. Why not? Whatever floats your boat.
His parents were not going to agree to this so he lied and said he was going to Perth.
Like flying a biplane solo over a desert is just so safe.
So, he took off and in 11 hours he was across the sea and over the west coast of New Zealand. But he needed a place to land.
Details. Details.
So, he saw these farmers waving at him and thought, hey, they’re pretty welcoming. They were actually waving him off because they were farming on the edge of a swamp.
Guy comes in for a landing and flips his plane in the swamp, but to the farmer’s relief, Guy released his seat belt and fell out of the plane, safe and sound with a face full of mud.
The farmers took note of the plane’s lettering – ABCF – on the side of the plane and said it must stand for “Aussie Bugger Can’t Fly.”
At the stop, there were some people working on placing coloured tiles on the walkway. Nellie went over and asked them about a tile that she had painted with a tour she had led three years ago and one of the artists pointed to it. It was the first time she was able to find the tile she had painted with AAT Tour, 2009 painted on it. I took a pic of her and the driver pointing it out.
As we drove on, we climbed over Mt. Hercules which was the most winding road I have ever been on. No wonder the coaches here have shoulder seat belts.
Nellie started to tell us about the Queenstown optionals which include Skipper Canyon scenic drive (the most popular according to her), river rafting, the Shotover jet boat ride and a couple of others. I want to do the rafting and Skipper Canyon and she seems confident we’ll have time to do both and get back in time for our 5:30 dinner departure.
With rain forecast for tomorrow, some of us have pulled out of the “calm” jet boat ride. I did it on the Colorado and see no sense in doing it if it’s foggy and raining.
We arrive in Franz Josef around 1:30 pm and have time to have lunch before the helicopter ride. The sun still hasn’t shown except for some blue spots but the signs in front of the tour offices say the copters are flying.
Cool.
I do a little shopping and have an Angus burger at a cafe then we leave to view the base of the Franz Josef glacier.
We are able to walk right down on the river bed but don’t have enough time to reach the base of the glacier, but close enough to get some decent pics with a zoom.
As I walk back, I notice the bits of blue disappear and the mist now hovering on the hilltops. When we get back to the bus, Nellie tells us that the helicopters are no longer flying today but that we might be able to do it in the morning.
With a forecast of rain, I’m not optimistic.
So, we go back to the tiny town of Franz Josef (population 300) and Nellie tells us that our stay for tonight is at a “retreat.”
Yup. Not a hotel. Not a villa. Not a condo.
A “retreat.”
Swanky!
The Te Wainau “retreat” is located in the rain forest off the road. Every room has a view of the rain forest.
We get a nice welcome with some delicious iced tea and heated towels. The concierge gives us a quick talk and tells us our luggage is already in our rooms. It’s another gorgeous hotel.
Oh, excuse me. Retreat.
The room has two beds, TV with 7 channels, kettle with stuff, fridge, shampoo etc, and even a robe and a safe.
Internet is 60 minutes free and pay after that ($5 for one hour or $10 for 24 hours and 2 gig limit). I hopped on the internet and checked out the hotel in Queenstown where we will be for two nights and found that the internet there is $30 for 24 hours.
<cough><cough>
I decided to sit back and relax and watch Ellen while I play with the internet and finish up this part of the tale. The hotel said the internet worked best at the lobby. I got my sixty free minute code and used part of it in the lobby, took my netbook back to my room and found it works fine here. Woohoo!!
So, I used up my 60 minutes and spent the 10 bucks for 24 more hours and best part find there’s a countdown for both the time and the usage, so I won’t be caught offguard again. Not going on the jet boat ride tomorrow should help pay off the internet bill.
Dinner was in the hotel restaurant and was a choice off a set menu. I took the red beet soup, the beef and a souffle. It was the kind of meal that tastes amazing but you get so little, you need to go to McDonald’s afterwards to fill up. It was delicious. The beef was a small cut accompanied by what appeared to be the same beef chopped up and formed into the shape of a tuna can (with all the drizzle and all that fancy stuff around it). I sat with a couple from South Africa and the other solo (which works well when they have 4 space tables, but the only other solo leaves in Christchurch, so I’ll be the odd girl out. LOL)
We ate and talked till 9pm. Back at my room, I tried to log back on to the internet but it wasn’t working for some reason, so I went back down to the front desk and she had to put me in for another $10 for 24 hour plan but said I won’t have to pay for it in the morning. (Of course, she’ll be home in bed then). It’s interesting just how spotty internet access has been in the hotels…spotty wireless connections, lightning shorts, problems staying logged in, etc…these are just things I don’t expect in a country like this. And the excessive expense. Peru gave me free internet from start to finish and it was always accessible and reliable. Just a little surprised.
Rain is still in the forecast, so I’m guessing the flight and the “calm” jet boat ride will be misses. Then it looks like a few days of sunshine with a lot of rain overnight Saturday. If it holds, we might get good weather to try the flight again from the east coast on Sunday.
Bedtime. And I’m hungry….
Just where is the closest McDonald’s?
Go to Day Four
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