Between Nelson and Franz Josef the bus stopped firstly at Lake Rotoiti where these pictures were taken- the third bloke is a farmer from Dorset called Oli who has been on our bus since day 1.
We then arrived at the old gold mining town of Westport. If you have started conglomerating thoughts of romantic runaway mine trains, short ginger bearded men in checkered shirts and abandoned towns of the Wild West then you will have, like me, been fooled. It was in fact the most boring place I have been in New Zealand, an arrow straight highway, with a generic pizza restaurant, supermarket and some faceless cafes dominating the town. I can only assume the reason we stopped was for the Kiwi bus to pick up some commission from the admittedly homely hostel we stayed at.
Lake Mahinapua was our next destination, via the geologically spectacular pancake rocks of Punakaiki, and the town of Greymouth where fancy dress was chosen for the evening. We reached the small West Coast Pub of Lake Mahinapua in the late afternoon of the 7th March. This pub and attached hostel, has been run by the 85year old Les since the Kiwi Experience began in the early 90's. It relies completely on the buses for it's income (nobody else can stay there). Many of the places we have visited have a Mono-dependence on the bus, it’s such a great way for these people to make money- a very predictable income by hospitality industry standards, plus it negates having to deal with any of the promotional graft so heavily invested in time and money by small businesses.
The pub was the most characteristic of the trip so far, the dark wooden walls adorned with people's memories, captured on fading Polaroids, showing every Kiwi bus to have passed through. The ceiling was covered in caps, bras, signed T-shirts and other such paraphernalia of buses long gone. It really did pong though!
The evening started with a massive barbeque consisting of a pretty tender gigantic ½ pound steak, heaps of salad, coleslaw and a stunning venison stew(wish id had more rather than the steak). The evening rolled onto fancy dress in the bar. The theme was Nasty, Naughty or Nice. Rob and I aimed to pick the most cost effective costumes possible, hence he turned out as a lifeguard. In a charity shop I purchased a $3 nightgown, certainly worn by a person now deceased, and then hunted for something to go with it. I happened to stumble upon a Fez in a toyshop turning me Mr Ben style(remember him?) into some sort of Moroccan dignitary- a big odd but nonetheless cost efficient. The only way I could see it fitting in with the theme is with it being intimidating in the way people claim Burkas are- a justification with about as much clout as a right hook from Mr Muscle.
The night was awesome, most people got absolutely wasted and many new acquaintances were acquired. The only exception was a group of 10 or so Danes on our bus, who didn't dress up and began forming a clique which would develop as the bus went on.
The 2-hour trip to Franz Josef was quiet, the majority of people resting off the hangovers of the night before, This process continued upon arrival, with people sleeping away the afternoon, or like myself Rob and some other mates bathing in the free hot tub at our hostel/campsite- Rainforest Lodge. That night people met in the site bar where prizes were given out for costumes from the night before, the winner Megan being dressed as a present which was actually Chlamydia.
Nearly everybody on the coach had booked onto the full day glacier hike for the next day meaning the night wasn't too wild.
A five minute walk into the centre of the Alpine village, which lies in the shadow of the impressive Southern Alps(a range which includes New Zealand’s highest mountain and can certainly live up to its European namesake) took us to the centre where we collected our day's equipment- woolen socks, insulating waterproof jackets, hiking boots and crampons for walking on the ice.
Buses Shuttled the sixty people up to the start of the glacier walk where we were split into groups of 10's and, set off up the Franz Josef glacier- named after the Austrian emperor at the time of European discovery.
Our group was led by Justin, a passionate explorer type from the Canadian border with the coolest beard I have ever seen. We spent the day slowly moving up the glacier, stopping regularly whilst Justin hacked the ice to make a path with his pick axe.
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| Justin with Rob and Myself |
The sky was plastered with fluffy dry white clouds with the sun appearing and lighting up the ice at rare intervals- a gem for a town which receives rainfall for 280 days of the year. We moved down fissures, pulled ourselves up mounds and walked through the dripping ice tunnels of the world’s fastest moving glacier and the steepest which you can hike.
Awesome Ice tunnels were frequent on the walk, the ice often appearing an ocean blue compacted by the weight of the ice above. This provided excellent photo opportunities.
The water on the glacier tasted amazing, crystal clear and of course chilled- some people filled up full bottles of it. The mountain air was fresh and cool, surrounding the glacier were high cliffs with gushing waterfalls. All of the geographical features shown in a classroom were there, striations, moraine and sedimentary rock, once part of the ocean floor, but since lifted by the pressure of the tectonic plates to form this young 5 million year old mountain range- a Geographers paradise. The ice made distances seem deceiving, a walk which looked like it would take 20 minutes would end up taking an hour. It was a great day, rounded off by a soak in the hot tub and Tui beers at the hostel.
Before leaving Franz Josef on the 12th March, Rob and I went Kayaking on Lake Mapourika using a small family run firm, based in a bus turned office in Franz Josef. The weather was excellent, no wind and relatively clear skies made the lake look like a mirror, never have I seen the sky reflected so clearly. The lake is surrounded by picturesque mountain scenery on one side(with the peak of Mount Cook visible in the distance), and everywhere else by rainforest- one of only two regions in the world like it. We pottered slowly across the lake, accompanied by sand flies foolish enough to land on our boat at the shore, and our guide lead us along small waterways into the forest where we saw some of the flora and fauna unique to New Zealand. This activity was in contrast to the high octane adventures of the past few weeks, with only a group of five of us Rob, myself, two Canadians and our guide present in this tranquil, untouched place. Photos were included with the modest $80 price tag (£40), it was a gem of an activity, which many adrenaline hunting Kiwi Experience travelers will overlook. I wish I had left my skydive till here, as the promotional pictures of this are the most spectacular I have seen yet.
