Glow worms at Te Anau
Trip Start
Feb 13, 2008
1
7
19
Trip End
Apr 05, 2008
Te Anau,
New Zealand
Thursday, March 6, 2008
We have done such exciting things since I last wrote. We have stayed three nights at Te Anau, a pretty town on the lake of the same name. We met Graham and Pauline there and went to see the glow worms together which entailed a boatride across the lake, a walk of 300 yards, bent double at times, into the caves and then a ride in a small metal boat in complete silence and in the pitchdark. It was magical to see the glow worms twinkling away but they don't like noise, so we all kept quiet.
The next day it rained all day, so we postponed our trip to Milford Sound until the next day. Unfortunately we didn't see the Sound at it's best, or like the postcards, but it was beautiful and we enjoyed our cruise, BBQ lunch and the coach trip back through beautiful scenery.
We then moved onto Wanaka and stayed in a lovely site overlooking the lake. The scenery here was spectacular and Chris enjoyed a sea going kayak ride, whilst I caught up with a bit of reading. The weather was lovely and we had a nice walk round the lake as well. We also went to the Warbirds Museum which covered the NZ support for GB during the second world war and was very interesting.
We drove through some very windy roads and over the Cardrona Pass, and then made our way to Punakaiki, famous for the Pancake rocks and blowholes. We were lucky to reach there at hightide but a really wild and windy day is best as the sea water shoots up through the blowholes. I know this from the postcards but we didn't actually see it. The rocks look like piles of pancakes, one on top of the other, hence the name and we walked along a tropical walkway with ferns, flax and palm trees, with vantage points over the rocks and caves. It was well worth seeing. We stayed at a lovely sight right by the ocean and could hear it was we drifted off to sleep.
I have got a bit mixed up here but never mind. Before that we drove through the rainforests and mountainous countryside until we reach Franz Joseph Glacier. Here we stayed in a Rainforest Retreat - we had driven all the way in torrential rain but it did stop by late evening and the next day was beautiful until lunchtime. We decided to go back to Fox Glacier and have helicopter ride over the glaciers. It was an amazing experience and I sat next to the pilot, hardly daring to look down. He flew us over both glaciers and then we landed on Fox for about ten minutes and had Mounts Cook and Tasman before us, majestic and snow covered. I picked up the snow and it looked like diamond crystals in my hand. We took lots of still and video, so be warned.
In the afternoon, we walked round Lake Matheson, again not as in the postcards, but very pleasant and we also drove to Gillespie's Beach going down and long and winding track. A young Israeli boy came with us and we had a long and interesting ride and conversation with him, stopping for tea and gingernuts on the beach, which he very much appreciated.
We are now at Moteuka, very close to the Abel Tasman National Park, and the weather has been beautiful for three whole days - we are even getting a little brown. We have been to Kaiteriti today and yesterday - about fifteen minutes away and such a pretty place. Chris has had a swim each day and this morning we went on a sea cruise along the coast. It was lovely - lots of sandy bays and coves and we saw young seal pups frolicking in a little pool.
This evening we have been to Mapua - a very small town along the coast but serving very good food at Shed One and tomorrow we are off to Blenheim for two nights. This region is so different from the rainforest - lots of apple and pear trees, even saw oranges and limes and, of course, the kiwi fruits. We have seen lots of vines and even hops on our travels. Our neighbour is here picking apples and he left two by our van this morning - very kind of him.
Well I think this brings you more or less up to date with our travels, so I will sign off now before the money runs out. Always conscious that the minutes are ticking away and I won't have time to send this.
Love from us both xx
