30th March 2007
A real shame as it was still pouring with rain & very cold so you couldn’t stand on deck to see the journey through the Malborough Sounds. A pity as it’s meant to have been breathtaking scenery and a wonderful introduction to the rest of South Island.
As we approached Picton the sky’s cleared and Picton looked a pretty little town sandwiched in between the tall peaky mountains.
Although it was a grey start to the day the drive was gorgeous to the West Coast.
Roaring Billy's Waterfall
Eventually the sun did come out and the day started to warm up! 1st impressions are that South Island is stunning with it’s rivers, gorges and waterfalls. The scenery is ever changing as one minute you are driving through the plains and next thing it’s mountain passes which are fringed by ferns & palm tree’s and to the side of you roaring rivers.
No wanting to spend the night in big city we pressed on to Charlestown where there was meant to be free camping with facilites at Constance Bay.
We did stop at one campsite to see what it was like and it turned out to be a German Pizza restaraunt that rented space out for camping.
As we walked into the resteraunt a couple of kids sitting a table had a really hard time saying hello. The German owner came out and said “Wat is it I can do for you? Snell snell” Pete asked how much is was to camp for the night “$5 each” she said “You want to stay you pay now” we agreed to pitch the tent and come back. We didn’t and just did a runner. The sign at the entrance said “You come in, you turn round, you lose” it didn’t give us a warm fuzzy feeling!
A few miles down the road we found another campsite which did look a bit ramshackle but we decided to ask how much, the Kiwi owner came out and her intro was much better “G’day mates you looking to camp, well you’ve come to the right place”
The kitchen was fab and was fully kitted out so didn’t need to pull all our cooking equipment out of the car. After chicken vindaloo & rice we headed back to the tent for the night with the company of sandflies and mozzies.
For the 1st time in two years we actually saw our breath, it was cold!
1st April 2008
Off to Franz Joseph to have a look at the Glacier and, if not too expensive, we’ll book a Glacier walk.
We did and have look at the Paparoa blow holes and Pancake rocks but the blow holes weren't that impressive as the tide was out and the sea calm, none the less a gorgeous coastline.
At lunch time the rain started again so when we arrived at the campsite we decided to book a cabin for the night.
When the rain eased we took a walk around the town and also a walk up to Sentinal Lookout to see the Franz Joseph Glacier.
Franz Joseph is a very neat little tourist town and had definitely styled on Europe's Ski resorts.
The Glacier was very impressive and according to the information signs it had been in retreat for a number of years and had just recently started to advance again.
There's not to say about a Glacier apart from it was white!
Franz Joseph Glacier
After investigating the cost of Glacier walking we decided that we couldn't afford it.
If you didn't take the tourist trips there really wasn't much to do at Franz Joseph Village so rather than waste time we decided that the next day we would head off to Fox Glacier.
2nd April 2008
It's only 25 kms to Fox Glacier but again it was grey day and threatening to rain.
We parked the car at the beginning of the path and started to walk towards the Glacier. A sign at the beginning of the path said that the walk was closed due to rockfall, Pete and I decided to ignore it and carry on.
A wonderful walk to the snout of the glacier, it was great as we really did close to it.
Fox Glacier
As we stood there we heard a loud crack and we watched rocks tumbling down. The skies opened and it started to pour with rain again. Mad dash back to the car to dry off.
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