New Zealand - Haast

The weather has been on our side thus far. While has rain or sprinkled pretty much every day; we haven’t encountered any nasty weather yet. The ferry ride from Wellington was said to have gone through rough seas, but in all honesty the waves didn’t seem too horrendous. There was some significant rocking through Cook Straight, but that was only a short portion of the ride. They had to suspend ferry service both the day before and the day after we left, so we must have lucked out. According to the weather news, we are just missing out on all the bad stuff. The only place that’s said to be having good weather at the moment is on the southwest side of the south island (where we are at this very moment).

After the three hour ferry ride, we headed for Greymouth (a short four hour drive away). The only stop we had planned was a place affectionately known as pancake rocks. We reached there just as the sun was setting and it made for some great sunset shots. I loved listening to the waves crash against the rocks and seeing the different kinds of formations the waves had created. The rocks are stratified which is where they got their name from. It makes me hungry for pancakes (it’s a good thing I’m not impressionable, huh?).

First thing up for the morning was the Okarito Trig Walk. That was certainly a way to wake up this morning. On a scale of 1-4 (four being the most difficult), it was given a 3 in difficulty (4 is an all day hike). It is supposed to be a 90 minute hike, and of course we had to do it in 20. It was a 150 metre climb more than a walk. It was an overlook, so the climb is to the summit. We started on the beach and went the 150 metres straight up to the top. Granted, I had some trouble, especially on the way down. It’s a stair climb with each step reaching about waist high on me. Do I have to tell you that I slipped and fell? (And now I have a fat bruise on my right knee). The view was nice, and overlooked the lagoon and Tasman Sea to the west and to the east are the Southern Alps where you can see a glacier.

I got a good indication of why the southwest side of the south island is known as the rainy side. There was a constant sprinkle/rain all day. In fact, there was a perpetual rainbow in our field of vision. Most rainbows I see are gone in a matter of minutes, or at most hours. The ones I saw today were there every time I looked out the window. It makes me believe that if I returned tomorrow there would be a rainbow in the very spot I saw it previously. It made for some good pictures though. A perfect arch against a picturesque scene. I even got the rainbow against the Franz Josef Glacier.

The viewpoint climb to Franz Glacier was much easier than the Okarito Trig, and I think it was far more spectacular. Even easier than that was the actual trip out to the glacier. It was a steady flat walk the whole way there. Instead of only being 20 minute hikes it lasted slightly over an hour, but at least the entire hike was flat rather than straight up. Interestingly enough, the hike to the Fox Glacier viewpoint was straight down (of course, you do have to go up it again). Again, the climb wasn’t nearly as difficult as the one done earlier (and done on a bad knee).

Which leaves us to the lovely Haast. The town here is even smaller than the one we saw in Franz Josef (and that was only a couple of blocks of stores). You can walk down the main road in a matter of 5 minutes here, but it is a lovely little community. Unfortunately, there’s only one restaurant open, but it made for some easy choices.

And for the best news…I don’t have to get up early tomorrow! (or so they say). It should only be a short drive away to Queenstown, plus we don’t have that much planned to do on the road in between. Plus, I heard something about going out to the diner for breakfast (hmmm, those pancakes are just calling my name).