Abel Tasman, Farewell Spit, Te Waikoropupu Springs - Takaka [March 14 - 20]

After Nelson I left for Takaka, or at least somewhere in that surrounding, because I hadn't made a reservation in a hostel. I stayed at Annie's Nirvana Lodge for a total of six (!) nights. The longest I have stayed in any hostel. It was the weather, the atmosphere, the surrounding....

I went kayaking in Abel Tasman, went to the Farewell Spit, where I was a lonely soul, cleansed my spirit at Te Waikoropupu Springs and saw Furry Seals hunting in the calm seas of the Abel Tasman National Park.


Takaka Hill.


Tata Beach.


Farewell Spit.


Te Waikoropupu Spring. World's clearest springs.


Shags in Abel Tasman National Park.


Furry Seal.


Abel Tasman National Park.


Abel Tasman National Park.

Westport, Sint Arnaud, Nelson [March 9 - 14]

Arriving back from the Oparara Arches in Westport, Sarah and I quickly found a hostel to stay. Sarah was leaving the next morning with the bus to Christchurch to fly out to Fiji. I decided to stay two nights in Westport. I didn't take any pictures there, 'cause it's just another city.
On Teusday I left for Sint Arnaud, which lies next to the Nelson Lakes National Park. It was beautiful there.
After one night I left for Nelson, with the sole purposes to advertise my car, to sell it. I booked two night in the Green Monkey, a lovely Backpacker. :)


On my way from Westport to Sint Arnaud, a crossed the site with the longest swing bridge in New Zealand. Had to walk it of course. The picture above shows the gorge over which it was suspended.


Me on the swing bridge. I love walking on them!


Nelson Lakes National Park.


Next - Takaka, Farewell Spit, Pu Pu Springs, Abel Tasman, and more!

Cape Foulwind, The Old Slaughterhouse, Oparara Arch, Heapy Track [March 8 - 9]

We had two very busy days on Saturday and Sunday. We drove from Punakaiki to Westport to do grocery shopping and on our way there we visited Cape Foulwind. We had made a booking at a hostel called The Old Slaughter House. We did wonder if we would live to see the day...


A seal mother and young at Cape Foulwind.


A Weka.


Sunset at the Old Slaughter House.


View from the Old Slaugher House (the next morning... :).


Oparara Arch.


Me next to the river that runs through the Oparara Arch.


One of the stalactites in the Oparara Arch.


The color of the river was golden orange-brown. Now we know where beer comes from. Or Coca Cola. :)


The beach at the beginning of the Heapy Track.


The most Southern Palm Forrest in the world. Near the Heapy Track.


Next: Westport, Nelson Lakes National Park and Nelson.

Punakaiki [March 5 - 8]

Punakaiki was absolutely blissful! Not only because of our hostel -a hostel in the middle of the jungle!-, the lovely weather -sunshine all the way-, but also because of the beautiful surrounding, great atmosphere and good company!


Me in the mine-workers museum, in Reefton.


On our way to Punakaiki.


Just after sunset, on the beach behind the hostel.


Pancake rocks.


One of the blow holes near the pancake rocks.


Me in front of the pancake rocks.

The Pancake Rocks that Punakaiki is famous for, are limestone formations that began forming 30 million years ago, when lime-rich fragments of dead marine creatures were deposited on the seabed, then overlaid by weaker layers of soft mud and clay.
The seabed was raised above sea level by earthquakes to form the coastal cliffs and coastline. The sea, wind and rain have since etched out the soft layers to form the unusual rock formations we see today.
When conditions are right, heavy ocean swells thunder into the caverns beneath the rocks and huge water spouts blast skywards through the blow holes in a truly spectacular sight.

The next day me, Michael, Sarah, Ollie and Mo went to a couple of caves. Heaps of fun guaranteed!

Me in one of the smaller caves.


Caves.


This river normally runs below the rocks. The guys wouldn't stop climbing. :)



The beach near the hostel.


And another sunset on the west coast...

To be continued!

Shantytown and Greymouth [March 1 - 5]

On March 1st we left Hokitika to arrive in Greymouth. Because Sarah wanted to stay somewhere a bit longer and because I saw no reason not to, we stayed in Greymouth for four nights. Our days were mostly filled with reading, watching movies and wandering through town. We also went to Shantytown one day. Shantytown is a replica gold-mining town, an open-air museum. And we struck gold! :)


Me in front of the main street, Shantytown.


It was a tiny jail with two cells. One was still occupied...


I didn't feign that expression. The pin to lock you in was still there and you couldn't reach it yourself! 


The church of Shantytown.


Me and Sarah, panning for gold. And we were lucky (that we bought a guaranteed find :).


Sunset on Greymouth Beach.

Click on the pictures!

Next: Punakaiki!

From Franz Josef to Hokitika [February 29 - March 1]

With the rain pissing down we traveled from Franz Josef to Hokitika, where we stayed just one night as we didn't like the town. It probably wasn't helping that the rain didn't stop at all. We did, however, made some stops along the way.


Okarito Beach. The town itself has 16 permanent residents and lies next to a lagoon. That lagoon is NZ's largest unmodified wetland.


Than we came to a little town called Harihari. A town that made headlines in 1931 when an Australian madman, named Guy Menzies, completed the first solo flight across the Tasman Sea from Sydney and landed upside down in Harihari.


Our destination for that day was Hokitika. Not even the beach could make us happy. See the rainclouds.

The next day we went to the Hokitika Gorge, where they had this swing bridge. Fun to walk on! The water should have been blue. It now was the same colour as the rain - grey...

T.B.C.!

Click on the pictures to make them bigger!

Franz Josef Glacier + Glacier Walk [February 26 - 29]

So we traveled onwards to Franz Josef, a town that solely exists because of the glacier. There are no normal houses, only tourist attractions, accomodation and restaurants/pubs. We found a nice hostel and I booked a half day hike on the glacier. It was absolutely magical!

The Franz Josef or Ka Roimata o Hinehukatere (in Maori) is a 12 km long glacier located in Westland National Park on the West Coast of the South Island. It is unique in the fact that it descends from the Southern Alps to just 240 metres above sea level amidst the greenery and lushness of a temperate rainforest. The area surrounding the two glaciers (Fox and Franz Josef) is designated a World Heritage Site. The river emerging from the glacier terminal of Franz Josef is known as the Waiho.


The glacier, viewed from the valley.


Me on the glacier. Gotta love the sunglasses, eh? ;)


The valley the glacier carved out and the Waiho river. It was still sunny. Later on it started to cool down.

On the glacier.

Me on the glacier. It was coldbrrr!

The higher part of the glacier.

People are tiny on the grand glacier.

The ice cave from which the river flows.

Some of the waterfalls in the valley.

Next: Further up the West Coast!