Flag Inn Fitzherbert Court Motel Hokitika

... 7 of us on the bus which it made it easy to chat. One of the couples was from Oz and had won a whole wine tasting trip to NZ and had just come from touring the Hawkes Bay wine region – lucky them. We visited 4 wine makers – Hunters, Cloudy Bay, Forrest and Drylands –all different in style and what surprised me was the range of wines produced – not just Sauv Blanc – I will need to approach C******nay and Gewürztraminer with a more open ...

The Kiwi Bus stops in Mahinapua, a place in the middle of no where, to stay in a pub owned by the oldest publican in NZ, an 83 year old called Les. The bus has the whole place to our selves, and each night there is a fancy dress party with a different theme. Our theme was bin bags. After eating a beautiful feast of venison stew and steak, cooked by the legendary Les himself, we got to work on making our costumes. I went as a robber ...

... worms stuck to the wall, paul got spooked about the dark, and insisted we went back to get our mobiles, so we did, and when we came back that the thing was tiny! and the point at paul got freaked, was right at te end anyway! went back to the motel, slept and go up early to hit the road the next morning.

... cabin (i had to sleep on a matress on the floor as there were 100 people and not enough beds, but i wasnt really complaining as i only paid $10 to sleep....dirt cheap!!!) wanted to get up to see the sunrise over the lake, but i wasnt really sure what time it rose, and didnt wanna wake up to be honest! hahaha oopss ah well!!! off to the glaciers early in the morning!!

... down and took some photos! We arrived at a good campsite with lots of facilities and pitched camp in the mansion-like tent! We had chosen a six man tent as we needed the room. Steven is enjoying the freedom of camping although he is finding it hard to adjust to the two hour time difference and is operating on Australia time which means going to sleep between 10 and 11 at night. The campsite has the benefit ...

... but to be honest, as it rains there 250 days per year, it's cold most of the time, and you are a good 4 hour difficult drive over mountains from any decent town, I think spending time in the library doesn't rate highly on their list. Anyway, Greymouth. I was picked up by the man from Neptunes who showed us around Greymouth. That took 2 minutes, and we were soon at the hostel which is on the edge of town. Greymouth sits on the mouth of the river ...

Started with a walk up the Franz Josef Glacier. Rain earlier in the week (just 0.4 meters in 4 days!) had closed some paths so we could not get to the snow. Then back to F-J for breakfast and on to a coast walk where we were promised views of Mt Cook, but it was too cloudy over the mountains. The walk was mostly verticle! Finished the day with a walk round an old Gold Mine. Gold was a big deal in the development of NZ and commercial mining was going on until quite recently.

... obviously carried on past the signs. Bits of glacier occasionally fall off and hit unwary tourists so I had to be alert. Up close, the glacier is an intimating beast, water pours from the bowels of the dirty ice with rocks and ice moving under the stresses and strains. After leaving Franz I drove north along the coast to Hokitika before heading inland onto the Arthur's Pass road which connects the west coast to the east coast bypassing the high southern Alps. I've parked up ...

... they said, and they loved NZ. they had a son, Jason with them but he plans to find work and leave the Hostel. The couple plans on renovating the whole place and on making their home downstairs below the Hostel area. We had some nice pork for supper, very lean and we bought it from the world famous butcher that they had in town. Said to have the best meat in all New Zealand. It was the first time me and mom talked to the other guests in the Hostel we were staying at for any ...

... its time to cross the Arahura river where the Jade is collected and on to Lake Mahuinapua to stay with 'Les' the oldest landlord in NZ at the age of 85 or so. Its wet so we don't see the lake or beach, but Les gets on the bus to 'welcome' us and then all the more time to prepare our costumes for the BBQ tonight. its like craft time in Cusco all over again - loving it! I've even got my little pot of marmite as a model. Did you know that marmite ...