Sunday, December 8, 2013
More pictures from Catlins to Dunedin
Cherry to Catlins Pictures
Saturday, November 30, 2013
rest of the west
Below the city of Greymouth there is only one more town of
significant size and then only wee bits of civilization exist. There is however a whole lot of beauty and
nature in the form of mountains, rivers, beaches, and glaciers. There were more people living in this area a
hundred years ago than there are today. The
area has been mined for coal and gold and one can also find greenstone or
jade. We figured we might get lucky and
find something! So we headed to an old
gold-mining area where we walked up a stream and had a go using our cooking
skillet to look for gold. Fossicking was fun but we had no success with the
gold, but we did find some jade at the beaches.
In Hokitika we got more provisions for the long journey down the coast
and walked around the town meeting some interesting characters. We met a self-proclaimed fruit loop lady who
gave us a lesson on proper gold-panning techniques. It was a little too late, but she sold us
some white sage incense to ward off the “evil sandflies”.
We set out down the road to the wild and raw West Coast to
arrive at our first camping spot on Lake Ianthe. Where we made dinner and watched the sun go
down as we got swarmed by the infamous New Zealand sandflies. These flies are
not really sandflies, their biting black flies that cause you to itch for days. This was not our first encounter with these
little black flies however it was the worst yet. The Maori say that the Gods created the flies
for population control in the area, and its working. After we managed to get
them out of the van and go to sleep we heard the buzzing of mosquitoes. They literally tag each other out, one attacks
during the day and the other attacks at night.
So Eugene stayed up all night swatting mosquitoes as they buzzed through
the tiny window cracks. After a horrible
nights rest we hit the road to get the hell out of there. Little did we know
that nights like this are common on the West Coast. We headed to the famous glaciers of Franz
Josef and Fox Glacier. We liked Fox
Glacier better, it was easier to see and the amount of recession over the years
was incredible. A big chunk of ice calved off while we were checking it out.
It’s really insane to see how fast the recession is happening. From where the
glacier was in 1750 to where it is now is about a 3 mile distance.
After our viewings we headed to a great free camp spot at
Gillespie’s Beach. At the beach we hiked
to a Fur Seal Colony. The next morning we got woken up by an endangered Kea,
the only alpine parrot in the world. It
landed on Frenchy, waking us up at dawn. The weather was great on our long 18km,
7hr hike to the Welcome Flat Hot Springs. The area was impressive! With river carved
valleys surrounded by craggy snow-capped peaks and turquoise water. We had a soak and then hit our sleeping bags.
The next day there wasn’t a cloud in the sky.
A kiwi guy told us it was as good as it gets. We scored!!!
Not only was it beautiful but it was windy enough to keep the pesky
sandflies at bay for a day.
We hiked out after two nights in the valley and headed to
Haast where we rewarded ourselves with pitchers of beer and Whitebait patties
at the local pub. Haast is whitebait
capital of New Zealand and the season was nearing an end so we had to indulge.
Whitebait is a small fish which look like sardines yet don’t taste as fishy.
The locals like to make patties out of them mixed with egg. They were pretty good washed down with some
cold lager.
The next day we decided to head to the end of the road and
check out the spectacular Jacksons Bay. The water was so clear and calm we decided to
go for a snorkel at low tide and look for some abalone. To our surprise we found heaps tucked away in
the cracks of rocks, I spotted them and Eugene dove down to get the big ones. Low on provisions and excited to eat some
fresh caught seafood we headed to another beach to process them and cook’em. During the process we got attacked by the
sandflies like never before!!!! The white sage didn’t work. We still have bites on us a week later, but
the abalone meal was worth it. The next day we headed over the Haast pass
towards Wanaka where we were blessed to stay on a great piece of property in a
house for the first time recuperating from the intensity of the West Coast. It came at the right time and was well
deserved. Thank you Gary!!!! Now we head East back to the Pacific.
Thursday, November 7, 2013
More pictures from the West
Pictures of Nelson to the West
Wednesday, November 6, 2013
Nelson to the West
Nelson town is a happening place on the South Island of New
Zealand. The weather is warm and the sun
is shining. After getting some rest from
our 2am ferry we hit the streets and went to the thriving farmers market where
I went on a sample spree and lost Eugene. I later found him sampling honey
whiskey and gin at 9am. We arrived in
Nelson at the October art and music festivals final two days. So we went and danced at two free shows and
it felt good to shake a leg. The next
day we woke up wondering what to do, where to go and dude where’s Frenchy?
There are two main
routes on the South Island; down the very unpopulated West side or down the
slightly more populated East side. We
couldn’t decide so we sent some emails to some people for a work trade
opportunity. While waiting for responses
we went to the Abel Tasman National Park and went for a sunny day hike to a
beautiful beach along the first quarter of this Great Walk. When we got back to
a computer we found a response from a German man Dieter, who grows 750
varieties of apple trees and other fruits and vegetables through biodynamic
farming practices. It is true organic
growing re-using everything in the system and planting with the stars and the
moon. He wanted our help so we went to his farm, Treedimensions. Dieter hooked us up with our own flat and cooked
all our meals, we ate organic food all week, and we earned it because we worked
hard. We built garden beds, painted,
cleaned, mulched, weeded, and made compost.
After the farm we decided that we should head down the West
side of the island. The stars seemed to be aligning just right. So we set off
toward Westport to check out the fur seal colony at Cape Foulwind. Luckily for
Eugene a surf spot was right there too, he surfed until sunset. The following day we headed further south where
the landscape becomes verdant green forest atop limestone cliffs falling majestically
into river valleys. We hiked up a couple different river valleys with river
crossings while taking dips in the chilly turquoise waters, aka shower time!
Then we headed to the
famous Pancake Rocks and Blowholes in Punakaiki. Where geologists don’t understand how the
rocks got so many layers looking like staked Pancakes! The weather can be rainy on the West side
often but we have somehow lucked out and have had some really nice days that
feel like summer is coming! Heading
further south we stumbled upon one of NZ’s most internationally significant
coal mines in Brunner. So we took a look
and learned some history. Today we head
from Greymouth continuing down the coast towards the craggy snow-capped peaks
to check out some glaciers and hot springs!!!
Thursday, October 24, 2013
Pics of Taranaki
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