Okarito Beach House

We found ourselves in Okarito which is literally made up of about 15 houses, a coffee shop which is basically someones living room and a kayaking shop...that's it!!  We drove out to see the Franz Josef glacier which is one of two large glaciers in NZ.  The glacier was not what we were expecting at all but we were still quite awe struck by the general surroundings as we were in a massive valley and there were waterfalls coming ...

... I get back to Auckland. Tomorrow we're headed on the Naked Bus(a bus company like the Megabus, and NO you do not need to be naked. It's optional.. hahah just kidding) to Queenstown to meet up with some more people and then we are headed to Milford Sound for the night!

I spent last week on the beautiful island of Rarotonga in the Southern Cook Islands. It was an incredible ...

... and across the glacier. This place is unique, the glacier source is about 2000m and the front is about 150m above sea level. The rainforest goes right to the edge of the ice and there is no snow at the front so the view of the ice is quite something. We had to navigate a wide moraine field, cross two raging mountain streams (luckily only about a foot or two deep but pretty fast flowing), climb about 150m up a steep forested hill ...

We awake with sore heads and only about 20 minutes to get ready before the bus departed. Our only en-route stop today is the Bushman's Centre, which informs us of how the Westcoast boys used to make a living catching and hunting animals and other manly things.

On our arrival in Franz Josef we get a short briefing for tomorrow on our glacier walk, then head to the Rainforest Retreat to check in. A quick snack and then I head ...

... than I was throwing myself out of an airplane 12 000 feet in the air! Anyways the group was all young people and were content wandering around the glacier with no real agenda except getting some awesome pictures. We got to climb through ice blue tunnels and lick real glacier ice! It was an amazing 8 hour trip and by the end we were more than ready to have a beer at the local saloon (Jay finally found some semblence of country music here!) and go to an early sleep at 9.

... good mood for having such an experience. There is even a girl from Colombia who has never see sow before and she must have taken 500 pictures that day. she did not even look cold! By the end of the day, after 7h walking, we are all pretty exhausted, but it was all worth it. Definitely one of the highlights of the trip. After a well needed shower, our body ached but we warmed it up with some mulled wine!

Family roadtrip! (well, missing Simon of course but close enough) Checking in on my Grandfather and reconnecting with the wild environs of South Westland. Ahhh sharp sea winds to blow out the cobwebs and sandblast the ankles. We stopped to explore the Hokitika Gorge and Lake Kaniere on the way.

The drive south from Punakaiki just has to be the most spectacular journey you can take by road, anywhere, full stop. Like much of the south island, it's simply breathtaking. On the way to Okarito (pop 27), we stopped off at Hokitika, a much bigger town, and our last chance to grab provisions for a while. Hokitika is a great place, which reminded me of Byron Bay - i.e. a little bit Bohemian/Hippy/Arty, with ...

Wez started the day with an attempt to fly her kite on the beach by the campsite, while this was unsuccessful (and not through lack of wind) she has learnt a valuable lesson in kite packing and not to leave it stuffed in its pack for 3 months otherwise it emerges a tangled mess ... still, it will definitely live to fly another day. After breakfast we replenished our water and headed up the coast with Wez at the wheel. Not far north out of ...