I asked one of the construction people if I could 'ride the pulley' over the gorge and to my surprise he said yes; it turns out they were in the very early stages of turning the thing into a 'tourist attraction'. I handed over $5, they strapped me into the safety harness, I grabbed the handles on either side of the pulley and rode over the gorge suspended only by my hands. It lasted about 30 seconds but was great fun and was tempted to do it again. The 2 guys were very nice and explained the history of the gorge (created by a massive earthquake in 1929), and I hope they succeed with their enterprise.
It became very evident to us at this point just how geologically active New Zealand has been, and still is. We felt no tremors while we were there but Kiwis told us they were quite common.
A few miles down the road we stopped by the river for some lunch; once again there were no people and no sounds other than those of nature. (I'm not misanthropic but I detest crowds, especially when I'm vacationing. One of my fantasies, which is by no means unique, is to have an amusement park like Disney World pretty much to myself, where you can ride whatever you like whenever you like for as long as you like, but generally only the Michael Jacksons and Liz Taylors of the world get to experience this. I didn't know it at the time and it was to be on a much smaller scale, but before this trip was over I would join their ranks!)
On the drive to Greymouth we ran into the Mauis; no, not Maoris, but Mauis. 'Maui' is a brand of motor home, and at times the south island appeared to be overrun with them. The problem with them is that they are slow and spew out noxious diesel fumes so when you encounter one in front of you your first priority is to get past it. At times this proved to be tricky, especially in the mountains, and Kathy is convinced I gave her numerous gray hairs while passing some of these. (I remember one time when we had been behind a Maui for a long time and I finally got a chance to pass it. A few minutes later Kathy had me stop so she could take a picture of the scenery. While she was composing the shot I saw the Maui coming and I told her to take the picture FAST as I did not want to be stuck behind that thing again!)
I expected New Zealand driving to be similar to U.K. driving; left side of the road, plenty of 'roundabouts' (what we call rotaries), and international road signs. We encountered all of these, plus a few extra things such as 'single lane' bridges. Heck, even NY has a few single lane bridges, but New Zealand has them everywhere, even on the main roads! In fact, one of the bridges we encountered was not only single lane, but you shared it with a railroad!
(Speaking of railroads, the current fad amongst the New Zealand moronic set while we were there was a game called 'railroad crossing chicken'. You and your pals parked your cars on a railroad crossing and waited for a train, and the last person to move was the winner. Unfortunately 16 people in one week waited for the train to move them and they won the game posthumously, proving that human stupidity is indeed universal.)
Greymouth is on the west coast and we knew the road would eventually parallel the coastline but it seemed to take a long time to get through the mountains. However, when we did it was worth it - really spectacular rocky coastline stretching for miles in both directions. We stopped to walk on the beach and get our feet wet in the Tasman Sea; and again, no people or any man-made structures were visible (well, you could see a few telephone poles but that was it).
A bit farther down the road we stopped at a formation called Pancake Rocks, aptly named as the rocks resemble huge mounds of stacked pancakes. There is also a 'blowhole' but it only works at high tide and we had arrived at low tide.
We stayed at the King's Hotel. Greymouth is not a large town and it has no major attractions but King's was larger than all the other hotels we'd stayed in so far. The reason is that it's roughly halfway between Picton and Franz Joseph and is a logical stopping point for tour busses (it's the reason we were there as well). Again, the room was OK but nothing fancy.
We ate at the hotel restaurant and I noticed the waitress had some numbers written on the back of her hand. I asked her what it meant and she said that it was the fee ($46.50) for her driver's license and tomorrow was payday so she would be able to pay it. (Getting a New Zealand driver's license is similar to NY, you take a written test, get a learner's permit, take a driving test, and if you pass you get a license. In New Zealand though, you must wait 18 months after getting your permit before you can take the driving test.) I was getting used to the 'no tipping' custom at this point but the service was great (and yes, she was cute!) so at the end of the meal I asked to borrow her pen, took her hand and changed the amount from $46.50 to $41.50, then pressed $5 into her palm. Great reaction; I was pleased.
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Wednesday, Nov 3: Greymouth to Franz Joseph
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On the way to Franz Joseph we stopped in Hokitika, as Kathy wanted to do some more shopping for sweaters and Christmas gifts.
Franz Joseph has only one major attraction, but it is a biggie (literally) - a glacier. We not only saw it but took a skiplane flight and landed on it, 7500 feet above sea level. The plane was an old 6 seat Cessna 185 'tail-dragger' fitted with retractable skis. The glacier landing was extremely smooth, especially compared to the return landing; the 'air strip' is nothing more than a dry, flat section of the riverbed! Definitely an amazing experience, and we were very lucky regarding the weather - no wind, 50 degrees, and clear blue sky with an occasional puffy cumulus. Flights can only take place about 180 days out of the year and I suspected they flew in some pretty nasty weather so a day like we had is quite rare. (At the end of our trip we found out just how true that was; 2 weeks before our flight 9 people were killed in a plane crash on the glacier, and two days before the end of our trip a helicopter crashed on the glacier, fortunately with no fatalities. Weather was a factor in both instances.)
While we were in the air we noticed cars parked near the glacier terminus. We asked how to get there when we landed, and it turned out to be a short drive but a fairly long walk, as the car park (what they call a parking lot) is over a mile from the terminus. Ironically, the size of the glacier face makes it looks like a short walk and we constantly expected to be only about 5 minutes away.
During the walk we caught up to a guided tour of people who had signed up to hike on the glacier so we tagged along. Eventually we came to a sign warning us not to go any farther because of the danger. We didn't know at the time that the group intended to hike on the glacier and we were surprised when they walked right past the sign, so we followed them right up to the glacier itself. It was close to 70 degrees and the ice was dripping profusely, and the glacier moves about 5 feet per day and every few minutes there was a small cascade of ice and rocks, so the sign was not overstating the situation. One of the tour guides was hacking steps in the ice for the hikers and suddenly the glacier rumbled ominously for a few seconds, but it didn't deter the hikers and they went on up. After getting someone to take our picture right up against the glacier we left a few minutes later, and as we were walking back a sizeable block of ice broke off and tumbled down where the hikers had been just a moment before and landed very near to where we had just been. Very scary indeed...
Our hotel, the Franz Joseph, was located on the river which originates from the glacier and after dinner we walked on the riverbed. The river itself was about 20 feet wide and moving very fast but the riverbed was at least 1/2 mile wide and there was much evidence indicating that it had recently flooded.
We noticed in the hotel information guide that there was a glowworm trail on the premises and that we could request a flashlight ('torch' they call it). I expected it to be a letdown compared to Waitomo but I was wrong. Numerous glowworms were visible all through the woods and on earth embankments next to the trail, and unlike Waitomo we could get right up to them and clearly see them; they are about an inch long, thin and brown, with a tiny continually glowing blue light on one end. We also could clearly see the hanging sticky threads they spin to catch their prey.
We also got our first real good look at the southern hemisphere stars. The south island is farther south of the equator than NYC is north of the equator, so all the stars are different from what we are used to seeing. Directly above 'the hills', as the locals call the mountains, was the Southern Cross constellation. There is no star at the intersection so to us it resembled a kite more than a cross, and at the time we observed it it was mostly upside down (again looking like every kite I've flown as they plummeted earthward) but it was neat to see. This constellation is a major feature on the New Zealand flag so it must be special to Kiwis as well.
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Thursday, Nov 4: Franz Joseph to Queenstown
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We were scheduled to spend 3 nights in Queenstown but we needed to leave early after the 3rd night and the weather reports for our final day there were not promising so we left Franz Joseph at 7 AM to get to Queenstown by afternoon and do some things while the weather was good.
The road from Franz Joseph to Queenstown winds through the Haast Pass. It took 40 years to widen the pass to accommodate motor vehicles and they are still working on it, as sections of it are still gravel surfaced and narrow. It wasn't too bad but it was the most challenging road we encountered to date.
From the pass there are 2 ways to get to Queenstown, the safe Rt 6 or the infamous Crown Range road. We read in the travel guides how challenging the Crown Range was and I was anxious to try it as we had a 4WD vehicle, but the rental car company explicitly told us to avoid the road. I was still willing to risk it but Kathy insisted I get a 2nd opinion from the local information center. They told me the road was not all that bad but since I was liable for the vehicle in case of accident, they advised me to take the safe route since while I might know what I'm doing, plenty of tourists take it who don't. Reluctantly I opted for the safe route but it turned out to be a good choice for another reason; Rt 6 takes you to the famous Kawarau River Suspension Bridge, where bungy jumping was invented and is still being done.
Yes, I jumped, and it was great. However, I've also done some skydiving so I have some experience with hurling myself into space from a great height. Both travel guide books mentioned bungy jumping but neither explained what the jumper actually goes through, so here it is: First you sign up; part of this process involves signing a form which among other things basically says you won't sue the company if you get hurt. (Later on we did some activities which I thought were even riskier but this was the only disclaimer form we signed.) You then get weighed, and your weight (in kilograms of course) is written on the back of your hand so the attendants know what length the cord should be. (The bungy cord itself has a fixed length; one end is attached to you and the other end is attached to a non-stretching nylon rope. |
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