13th Sept: My first backpackers' hostel; Bazil's of Westport. Not bad at all. Only had to share a room with two others for the princely sum of $26 |
14th Sept: Cape Foulwind living up to its name |
A weka, often mistaken for a kiwi but it has a much shorter beak |
Along Cape Foulwind |
Along Cape Foulwind |
The weka again. A bit of a poser |
Everywhere is far away, not small |
London's that way - 16,286 kms |
Wall Island. It still has native plants which were burnt by Maori and settlers on the mainland |
Pancake Rocks. Impressive erosion |
The waves were giving it a good seeing-to |
Good example of the erosion |
Closer view of same |
Blowholes in the rocks |
We picked a good day to see the water in action |
Another view of Pancake Rocks |
The classiest place in Greymouth. No, really! |
Driftwood on the beach just behind Hotel Mahinapua |
The lads playing rugby. Next stop, Eden Park? |
Driftwood |
Driftwood |
Driftwood |
There's a lot of it |
The wind only blows one way on the West Coast. Inwards and hard |
Our second night's stop. Run by a bellicose old codger of 86 called Les Lisle |
First beer since Christchurch! It's Matsons and more to the point it's the Special at $8.50 for a litre jug |
Fancy Dress at the Hotel Mahinapua. The theme was Rugby World Cup countries. Justin as a redneck American. Hayden in the background as a Thai Ladyboy. Maybe he misheard |
Hayden. The tattoos are real |
Jenna, Greg, Aaron, Justin, not sure |
Dan the Welshman as a sheep. This is one of the cleaner photos |
Me as an Englishman on holiday and Jenna |
The South Africans were being African pirates. Apparently. The man at the back is a ninja |
An Argentinian, Elvis, the ninja, St George and the sheep |
An Englishman, an Irishman, a South African, an American and an Arab walk into a bar….. |
The group photo with compulsory bunny ears |
Les, the old codger and Elvis (a Scot) |
Esther, an Austrian, someone with a Spanish theme, the ninja and Jenna |
15th Sept: The pub opposite The Bushmans Museum with a very enticing name. Perhaps it sells Watneys Red Barrel |
Another Catholic church - Our Lady Of The Alps |
A luxurious hostel room with en-suite at the Rainforest Retreat in Franz Josef. Only two of us in it as well. Sweet! |
16th Sept: The winner of the Monty Lookalike Competition. It's not unusual to see cats at home in hostels |
The start of the 2km walk to the bottom of Franz Josef Glacier, having already hiked about 1km through rainforest to get to the river |
The walk commences. Dan is now permanently attached to his sheep hat |
The group ahead of ours start up the moraine with their newly fitted crampons |
Looking back the way we've just come |
The start of the terminal moraine |
Simon, our guide, giving some tips on how to climb up or down his very steep ice steps, not designed for short legs. I didn't take any pictures of the steps on the ascent as I was too busy trying to get up them. I had to keep reminding myself that at least I wasn't in ski boots with skis over my shoulder so it should be easy.... |
That's me, that is, wearing the guide company's raincoat |
One of many tunnels through the ice |
A bit of the glacier |
A bit more of the glacier |
Upwards, ever upwards |
It did get steep in places |
Lunchtime, perched on a small slope of ice and getting a cold backside. PIE! |
Same slope without me in the way |
We're going higher now. We were on the ice from about 11.30 till 16.30 |
The view down the valley from being higher now |
Me in the way of the view |
Now it gets narrow |
That was a very tight sqeeze |
Out in the open again |
A short rest, looking at, er, ice |
Not sure why I was doing the paws. Possibly to keep my hands off the ice |
Standing in the "Must Have My Picture Taken Here" Hole |
And again |
The hole without people in it |
"Now we'll just pop up this incline. No worries!" He's Oz so he doesn't say "Sweet as Bro!" |
Close up of air bubbles in the ice |
We've just come down that bit.The camera can't do justice to how steep it really is |
The highest point we reached on the glacier. Shame about the clouds |
Me and a girl called Katy who drifted unknowingly into the photo |
Me looking very pleased with myself and why not? |
A pool of melted ice. This was near the start of the descent off the glacier which was much quicker and easier than getting up as we took the easy route |
A vineyard in the Wairau Valley, near Renwick, which grows grapes for Oyster Bay [Shurely shome mishtake - Ed.] [Vic say's it should be 'a hole in the ice', but this is more fun] |
"Ah yes. Umm, the thing is, I was supposed to offer these to you on the way up but I forgot. Never mind, you didn't need an ice axe, did you? It just gets in the way, to be honest" |
Some of the Way Down was Up. These ropes were very useful but took the skin off your knuckles if they went taut by people hauling on them when you had a hold |
Some close-up ice detail |
Near the bottom again |
The uneven nature of glaciers. And we ski over this stuff! |
17th Sept: The Rainforest Retreat in Franz Josef. Very nice hostel and a rare moment of morning sunshine which didn't last |
Mount Cook and mountain friends as seen from Lake Matheson |
Lake Matheson with Mount Cook in background. Clouds closing in, unfortunately |
Lake Matheson |
Lake Matheson from the other end, halfway round a very pleasant walk |
Lake Matheson from a viewing platform |
Fern and other rainforest flora |
Fern. Would have looked lovely against a blue sky |
Prince Of Wales fern |
Pretty reflection on Lake Matheson |
More pretty reflection |
Trees, mountains, cloud. It's New Zealand |
The absolute highlight of the trip so far. Whitebait Fun Day. Such promise! |
The anticipation grows for Whitebait Fun Day |
And this is it! |
The sad bouncy casle in the rain. The kids were all sheltering indoors. And that was Whitebait Fun Day! |
Thundercreek Falls on the Haarst River |
Thundercreek Falls on the Haarst River |
Thundercreek Falls on the Haarst River |
Fern |
Fern |
Underside of fern |
Lake Hawea. On the other side of the thin strip of land on the right, called "The Nick" (or Neck in English) is Lake Wanaka |
Lake Hawea |
18th Sept: Just outside Wanaka |
Just outside Wanaka |
Amusing edifice at Puzzling World, Wanaka |
Puzzling World isn't a crossword museum, it's an attraction of optical illusions, puzzles and a maze |
The Big Green Bus: my transport around the South Island. First one on bagsies the front seat for the best view. With my travelling companions' timekeeping, I've spent a lot of time in the front seat |
Pretty trees |
Spring has sprung in New Zealand |
Puzzling World in its lovely setting |
Puzzling World in its lovely setting |
The entrance to the loos. Spot the join. You don't have to use these actual loos, by the way |
An Escher illusion |
Kawarau Bungy Bridge. This is the small one - a mere 43 metre drop |
Being dunked into the water at the bottom of your jump is optional |
View from the bridge. The dinghy brings you in rather than you being winched up |
Ben, one of the Kiwi Experience gang. This is his warm up for the biggie above Queenstown. The Nevis is a mere 134 metre drop |
Missed him! I wasn't quick enough with the camera |
Down he goes. He chose not to be dunked |
Rose is up next |
Yep, missed her too! |
The loo signs at the bungy place |
The lakeside at Queenstown. The gulls are staging a demonstration. "What do we want? Food! When do we want it? Now, Now, Now!" Hold on tightly to your chips or better still, eat them somewhere else |
Gimme more chips! |
View from the lakeside |
Why has it suddenly gone dark? |
Oops, I'd accidentally switched it from the Auto setting. That's better |
View from the lakeside |
The Altitude Bar In Queenstown. Yes, the one with Mike Tyndall in it |
19th Sept: Lake Te Anau: our coffee stop on the way to Milford Sound |
Eglinton Valley. There are a lot of mountain pictures coming up. You have been warned |
The Mirror Lake |
The Mirror Lake |
The Mirror Lake |
Tree at Mirror Lake. Quite a few tree pictures as well |
Branches and mountain tops above Mirror Lake |
Reflection |
Mountain beeches at Mirror Lake |
Reflection of mountain beeches |
A view of Mount Talbot from Monkey Creek which was named after a road builder's dog. The creek, not the mountain |
Monkey Creek and Mount Crosscut |
Mount Talbot and Mount Crosscut |
Tree and snow. The snow came right down to the roadside |
Feet in snow. Much of the highway to Milford Sound is an avalanche zone and frequently closed |
Mountain beech in the Southern Alps |
The landing stage at the start of the Milford Sound cruise |
Milford Sound. Misnamed as Sounds are cut by rivers and this was cut by glaciers. The Sound was originally named Milford Haven by the Welshman who discovered the entrance from the Tasman Sea by accident when he was looking for shelter from a storm. Cook missed it twice in his explorations |
Bridal Veil Falls |
A camera can't do justice to this scenery, with or without the panoramic feature |
Justin, a South African, little old me and Jenna from Portsmouth. They fell in love on the Kiwi Experience bus. How romantic! Today was their last day together before Jenna flew back to Blighty |
Bridal Veil Falls |
Bridal Veil Falls |
Bridal Veil Falls |
Bridal Veil Falls with rainbow |
I took my eyes off the scenery for a few moments to capture this French chap's trousers |
Milford Sound |
Blue sky. A very rare and privileged sight at a place where rain falls 200 days a year |
Yarrrr! It's Talk Like A Pirate Day and this is a bit Pirate-like. More so than our white plastic cruise boat |
The entrance to the Tasman Sea. Over the water Australians are crying into their amber nectar after the Irish defeat |
It's just so pretty |
And majestic |
And steep-sided |
And wow |
Pallisade Mountains with steps where glaciers have been busy over the mulit-millenia |
Sorry about all the mountains |
Seal Rock with basking New Zealand fur seals |
Stirling Falls which some member of the nobility named after himself |
Look! Some mountains and water! |
Look! Some mountains and water! |
A textbook example of glacial striation. One for the geography teachers |
Spot the penguin! The first one I've ever seen outside of a zoo or a nature programme |
Here it is again. Those with high-powered telephoto lenses were very smug |
Lady Barron Falls, named after a member of the nobility's wife |
For those who need reminding that we're in New Zealand. I'd recommend the visit to Milford Sound to anybody. I didn't photograph it while in the bus but the vista that greets you as you come out of the Homer Tunnel is breath-taking |
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