There are quite a few different walks you can do on the glaciers, half day walks, day walks and heli-hikes. It was the latter which interested me for a number of reasons including: the helicopter ride, you walk on part of the glacier which otherwise would be inaccesible and there is no walk in and out! I reported down at the office at lunchtime and we took a bus to the helipad. On this trip, there was an Australian couple, an English woman, our guide, Kerrie and myself. We were kitted out with some old hobnail boots which seemed rather heavy and cumbersome and then it was time to get in the helicopter.
I've been in a helicopter once before, and flew over a field in Warrington, this was to be a bit more spectacular! The flight only lasted about ten minutes, but we flew right up the glaicer and did some cool banked turns to see a waterfall which flowed down the side, then under the glacier. The pilot then dropped us off at the ice helipad and flew off. Kerrie had some step in crampons for us to attach to our boots, and then we were off. It was quite unnerving walking on sheer ice, fortunately, the crampons worked really well and stopped anyone from sliding and falling over.
We walked down to some amazing ice caves and arches. These have been formed by the compression of ice at different rates as the glacier moves down the mountain. It was amazing to see the blue colours in the ice and the way in which it had been sculpted by the wind.
From the arches, we headed further up the glacier nearer to the steep and unstable icefall where the glacier becomes more broken at the surface. There were many deep crevasses and ice pools, every now and then you could hear the sounds of rushing water as the plumbing of the glacier was near the surface. It was incredible. We'd been on the glacier for nearly four hours before it was time get off. Kerrie radioed the helicopter, and he came to pick us up. Whilst we were waiting Kerrie revealed that the Morris Minor in the Wanaka cinema used to belong to her!
The helicopter ride was over too soon and we were back down to sea level. The two glaciers on the West Coast of New Zealand are nearly unique in the world. There are only three other glaicers ( in South America ) like them. Their uniqueness is due to the way in which the snout reaches down to a temparate rainforest, amazing!
In the evening, I settled down with some fellow travellers to watch "Shakespeare in Love" on the tv before heading to bed.
Time to move North from the glaciers and today I had two fellow travellers join me for the drive. Niels is a German chat show producer who is rather tall ( 6 foot 6! ), Rachel is a trained Nurse, from near St. Helens, who is travelling around New Zealand, working as she goes.
The journey North was not very exciting, apart from a small detour to Okarito, which was very bleak and windy, a cool combined rail and road bridge and a cracking view of the coast. We stopped in Hokitika for some lunch and some fuel and the food was a bit grim, never mind!
Our destination was Punakaiki which is a small settlement on the West Coast, famous for a nearby rock formation on the coast known as the Pancake rocks. Once the pictures are developed, you will see why! We stopped to look at the rocks and the sea, which was really crashing in, before going to the hostel.
There are a couple of hostels at Punakaiki, but Rachel was planning on staying and doing some work at the Te Nikau retreat, so we all piled in there. The hostel is really relaxing, surrounded by trees with a short walk to the beach. Inside is a wood stove and the lounge is ideal for relaxing. It's very quiet! I might end up staying here for a few nights before heading back to Christchurch, just to chill...
Well, I didn't do very much today, the weather was awful. Niels and I drove to Greymouth to pick up some food and see the sights. On the way back we picked up an old guy who was hitching. He was soaking wet because of the rain so I felt rather sorry for him. He lived near Punakaiki but when we dropped him off, it seemed to be the middle of nowhere, we couldn't see a house or anything. When I looked back in the car mirror, he'd disappeared into the bush.... spooky!
A couple more people arrived in the afternoon, so most of the time was spent chatting away and reading books by the fire. The atmosphere is great and I feel like I could stay here for a long, long time. That night, Brian, the main man running the hostel, cooked a meal for us all and it was great to sit around the table and chat. Present that evening were: Rachel, Niels, Annie, Malcolm, Brian, Ian, Shelley, Rick and my good self. We had some good discussions that evening, including the joys of pig hunting, which Rachel told us about and right wing politics, which Rick tried to defend!
Today was a beautiful day and knew I had to move on. It was so relaxing though, that I felt like I could have stayed for weeks. This last week has been, in some ways, the happiest of times and I have been really chilled. So, instead of leaving in the morning, I went down to the beach to see the sea crashing in.
I decided that really, I should then stay for some lunch! Ian had baked some fresh bread that day and had found a coffee maker, so lunch was delicious. Then I sat around for a bit longer, trying to avoid getting picked by the chickens and catching the sun.
Three o'clock went and I got my stuff together to leave. I was really sad to go, but to fit in everything before catching my plane meant a departure. Happy memories....
The journey to Christchurch was over Arthur's Pass, the trip I made on the Tranz Alpine express about three weeks ago. Before ascending the pass, I picked up a couple of hitchers who were trying to get to Christchurch and the poor old car struggled up the hills with a full load!
The road over the pass is quite impressive and once over the top, it carries on through the mountains for ages before dropping down to the Canterbury plains. As it went dark, we could see the moon, full in all it's splendour. I was getting tired and missing Te Nikau, but I had to press on!
After dropping the hitchers off, I headed down to the YHA in Christchurch where I stayed last time. I was surprised to find that I had the very last bed, three weeks ago the place was deserted! When I wondered down to the Cathedral Square, I could see one of the reasons why it was busy. It is the Christchurch winter festival, and a huge construction filled the centre of the square, surrounded by people. A jump had been built and covered in artificial snow for another "Big Air" competition! This one looked more dangerous than the one I saw in Queenstown as the snow was quite thin and there was a huge drop on either side! Nevertheless, there were some spectacular jumps, including one skier who skied down the ramp backwards, better him than me.
I stayed for a while watching the replays on the big screen and then headed back to the hostel for some sleep.
Today I had to get the red shed back to it's owners and do some shopping for gifts. I drove across to the rental place, only to find it deserted! I waited for a bit, reading Lord of the Rings by the side of the road before heading back to the hostel... task 1 - failure!
Back in to town for a mooch around and a shop. There was a little market on by the art centre so I had a good look around there before heading in to town. Work had started on clearing up the big snow jump.
I had some pictures developed and then tried to phone Scotties to see if there was anybody who wanted my car back! This time there was, so I drove out, handed the keys over and got a lift back into town. I planned on getting my hair cut, but by this time, most places had shut. In New Zealand, a lot of places close on a Saturday afternoon and open late on a Friday night.
So, I decided to update this webpage in New Zealand for the last time and get the pictures scanned in. If you have been reading about my exploits, well thank you very much! I hope you have enjoyed finding out how I've got on down under. Tomorrow I fly out from Christchurch to Singapore, then to Manchester via Zurich.
A quick update from Singapore! Journey has been fine so far, even had time to pop into the choral service at the cathedral before catching the bus to the airport. I nearly bodged big time though as the bus was only every hour, whereas I'd kind of assumed a bus every ten minutes! I just caught the one to get me to the airport on time and was rewarded at check in with the two aisle seats I wanted.
I watched a few films on the plane, including Shrek, which was very good, mind you how could a film not be good with a Proclaimers and a Leonard Cohen song in it? The other films I watched were Blow, with Johnny Depp and Shadow of the Vampire, which wasn't very nice!
It's now nearly 11pm in Singapore and it is still really hot, nearly 30 degrees, which after the New Zealand winter, is very hot! My body is still running on NZ time, so it thinks it is nearly 3am, I'm trying to tell it that actually it isn't that at all, and very soon it needs to think that it's nearly 4pm, UK time! I just hope that I can get some sleep on the next leg to Zurich and Manchester, I certainly will not be watching any vampire films this time around...
My hands are covered in itchy bites, which is not good. I'm trying to work out whether they are from sandflies, from Punakaiki, or fleas from somewhere else. I think it's the former, but even though I've bought some cream, they still itch and it's driving me a little crackers!
To try and stay awake, I've drunk a coffee and bought the latest copy they had of the Independent newspaper. I've not missed the paper as much as I thought I would, but it is nice to read it again :)