14 February 2015 Arthur’s Pass to Franz Josef, New Zealand
We had a rest from hiking and became tourists, walking around Hokitika and visiting its interesting museum. This small town grew in a matter of weeks in 1865 when gold was discovered in one of the nearby rivers. It soon became the largest port of the whole New Zealand with over 40 ships at the wharf in 1867.
There’s a horrible looking sand bar protecting the entrance of the river, with breaking waves and, in the first three years, 108 ships went aground with 32 ships lost. The prospect of crossing the Hokitika bar was terrifying to the gold miners rushing to make their fortunes, but that didn't deter the tens of thousands who set up claims along the various rivers.
The early Maoris had no interest in gold, instead they searched the rivers looking for Greenstone (known as Pounamu in Maori), which they revered above all else. We know it as Jade and Hokitika has several factories manufacturing jewellery and shops selling the stuff. Glenys dragged me into every single shop until she found a nice pair of earrings made from the local stone. The Maori tradition is that Greenstone has to be given, so I paid for the earrings and I've hidden them away until her birthday in three weeks’ time – present sorted!
For lunch, I had a Whitebait Sandwich, which is a speciality of the area. I was expecting a pile of crunchy pan-fried fish, but it was more like an omelette –the locals call them patties. Late in the afternoon, we drove for two hours to Franz Josef Glacier, which is a small, but bustling tourist town and checked into the Glacier Gateway Motel which is very nice.
15 February 2015 Franz Josef to Fox Glacier , New Zealand
We walked up the Franz Josef Glacier Track, which is a well-worn path, packed with coach loads of tourists, clad in shorts and flip flops – we felt very overdressed in our mountain boots and rucksacks. To make the route even more surreal, there’s the constant drone of helicopters flying overhead as they take even more tourists on excursions over the glacier.
It takes about 45 minutes to walk to the end of the trail, which stops 200 metres from the glacier. I suppose that if you've never seen a glacier, then it would be interesting, but we've done so much mountaineering that it was a bit of a disappointment to us.
After a 30 minute drive to the Fox Glacier area, we walked around Lake Matheson which is supposed to have fabulous views of the Southern Alps reflected in the mirror calm waters. Unfortunately, it was cloudy and windy, so the mountain peaks were hidden and the water was a long way from being reflective. Ah well, at least it was a pleasant one hour walk in sub-tropical rain forest.
We checked into the Ivory Towers Lodge (another nice place) and then walked up to the Fox Glacier. This route was only 30 minutes long, but again was packed with tourists and the remorseless helicopters buzzing overhead, but it was a more interesting path and we got a little closer to the glacier.
16 February 2015 Fox Glacier to Wanaka, New Zealand
It was a clear morning, so we drove to a view point outside town to get a view of Mount Cook and the surrounding peaks where we had a long chat with an old guy who had climbed Mount Cook in the 1960’s. He’d been dropped off on the glacier by a light aircraft and even then took three days to get up and back down with one epic night trapped in a blizzard.
We drove along the West Coast, stopping briefly at Haast, which has a reputation for ferocious sand flies, so I was putting on DEET before I got out of the car. Glenys was under strict instructions to get out of the car and close the door quickly to stop the little buggers getting in the car. You might call me paranoid, but I haven’t been bitten for the past three days because I now only wear long trousers, long sleeved shirts and coat every exposed bit of skin with insect repellent.
We checked into the Lake Wanaka Lodge in Wanaka which is a very nice hotel, a five minute walk from the centre of town. Wanaka is a tourist town with beaches along the lake front and all sorts of activities and bars – after a couple of beers in the bars, we treated ourselves to an Indian meal.
17 February 2015 Wanaka to Glenorchy, New Zealand
We drove from Wanaka to Queenstown via Cardrona Valley Road which is a fabulous, twisty road through some lovely scenery. On the way, we stopped off at Arrow Town, where some of the Lord of the Rings was filmed, but the most interesting part was the reconstructed Chinese Village, which was occupied by Chinese miners during the gold rush.
Often victims of discrimination they lived on the fringes of European settlements and in isolated gullies close to their mining claims. By 1885, the Arrowtown settlement had grown to consist of about ten huts, a large social hall and at least two stores. There was also an extensive garden area. A range of construction techniques was used for the buildings, including mud brick, mortared stone, wood, corrugated iron, and canvas. Some buildings were thatched while others were roofed with corrugated iron.
We couldn't resist stopping off to have a look at the E.J. Hackett bungy jump. This was the first commercial bungy jump in the world and is from a bridge over a fabulous steep-sided gorge. I only had to see one person do it before I’d made my mind up that I just HAD to do it. Glenys was a little more reticent, but was soon persuaded. She did a very elegant jump and enjoyed it. It’s a fabulous location and a great rush to drop down towards the river 43 metres below in the narrow gorge.
Having had our adrenaline rush, we carried onto Queenstown which is a mega-tourist town. The place is heaving with cars, vans and coaches full of people coming for the high adrenaline “experiences” – want to bungy jump or skydive or ride a fast jet boat through a narrow canyon? Then this is the place.
After a walk around the town, lunch at a sushi bar and a quick trip to the supermarket, we were glad to leave the chaos behind and headed up to Glenochy. It was a fabulous 45 minute drive alongside the lake with some magnificent views of the surrounding mountains.
We’re staying in Glenorchy Cottages which is a small self-contained “Bach” - New Zealand for “holiday home”. It’s a small wooden building with a lounge, kitchenette, bedroom and a bathroom, but it’s beautifully laid out.
18 February 2015 Glenorchy, New Zealand
We went horse riding with Dart Stables. We were a bit worried about this trip because when Glenys booked it they wouldn't let me go on the three hour experienced ride because she initially (truthfully) said that I’d only done 50-100 rides. They’d put us on two hour “mixed” ability ride, which meant that there was a good chance of total beginners in the group, so there would be no cantering.
When we got there (looking all experienced with our own riding boots and half chaps), they paired us up with another couple and let us go out on a longer ride, which was great. We had lots of opportunity to do some long canters as well as fording streams and walking through dappled woods. The Dart valley is one of the film locations used for the Lord of the Rings and some of the stable’s horses were used in the Rohan battle scenes. The mountains over-looking the valley are the Misty Mountains that featured in the film.
This was our first horse ride in over year, so we were pretty tired and spent the afternoon chilling out and napping.
19 February 2015 Glenorchy, New Zealand
It absolutely threw it down in the morning, so we went for a hike up Mount Alfred, which we spotted on our ride yesterday. It’s a small 1375 metre hill, but with a start altitude of 350 metres, it gave us a reasonable 1000 metre ascent. The first hour was up a zig-zag path in a lovely forest carpeted with ferns and looking very primeval. The second hour up to the tree line was very steep, taking a more direct line up the hill.
Once clear of the trees, the faint path meandered up through very steep grassland; then led up scree and beneath a cliff up to a nice ridge to the summit. Well it would have been nice if we hadn't had 25 knot winds and driving rain. By the time we got to the summit, we were soaking wet through and shielding our faces from the pounding, cold rain – we only stopped for about 20 seconds and then turned tail and headed down.
By the time that we’d reached the tree line again, the clouds had parted and we were bathed in sunshine – if we’d left an hour later, then we’d have summited in sunshine – ah well, at least it was a ”quality” mountain day. It took us a total of five hours to get to the top and back to the car, so we were absolutely “cream-crackered” and spent the rest of the afternoon in an exhausted stupor.