We are excited to commence our Big Road Trip from Wanaka up to the North Island, Auckland and beyond. The plan for Stage 1 is to travel up the West Coast, staying overnight at Franz Josef then onwards to catch to ferry to Wellington from the port of Picton. Tuesday dawns bright with a beautiful sunrise to greets Gill's birthday. After a celebratory dinner last night and Diane's yummy home-made birthday cake (thank you Uschi for the kitchen use and guidance!), we are also treated this morning to waffles with fresh fruit and maple syrup. Perfect fuel with which to pack the car despite a hoar frost chilling the grass.
Our starting route takes us through town, past Albertown and up to Hawea before crossing the isthmus back over to the head of Lake Wanaka. We then run into dark and threatening clouds as we approach the Haast Pass and the rainforest towards the west coast certainly stands up to its moniker. Heavy heavy rain tracks us all the way up to the Tasman Sea before we pause for a scening pic at the stunning Bruce Bay.
This part of the country is particularly crossed with creeks, culverts and burns. Our competition today is the most wacky name for such. And today's finalists are; Dizzy Creek, Dismal Creek, Doughboy Burn and the very peculiar Old Windbag. So far, we have been unable to spot either Jonathan Creek or Zorba the Creek. But equally fortunately, so far, we haven’t been Up 5H 1T Creek (with or without a paddle).
A welcome break in the rain allows the sun to stream through the hills along the coast.
A few miles from our first nights' stay over, we turn up the road to the Fox Glacier. The immense sides of the classic 'U' shaped valley tower over the car park from which we walk a kilometre or so to the face of the 13km-long ice wall.
Despite its rapid retreat in recent years - and by that they mean 2009 - the glacier had actually been advancing at around 70cm per year from the 1980s. Today we are able to walk to the first of a dog-leg where four separate ice flows meet. And a rainbow to boot!
D meets a lovely new young man (though she admits that he's a bit wooden in his outlook) and we bathe in the late afternoon glow.
On returning to the vehicle, we drive slowly down the access road. After a couple of kilometres, we pause at a sign denoting the extent of the ice in 1750. Looking back towards the face, that sure is some melt!
Leaving Franz Josef, we travel up State Highway 6, “The Glacial Route” on a meandering route north, up and over hills, through many hairpin bends and through the rainforest vegetation. At any time I expect David Attenborough to pop out from behind a tree with a small marsupial in his hands (ooh! Madam!)
The skies begin to broil with thunderclouds and the westerly wind pulses in from the Tasman Sea. By the time we reach Hokitika, the gale is lashing in and a quick wander round town is halted with all sails furled in rapidly. The plan to stop for a spot of lunch in Greymouth is shelved due to a) weather conditions and b) the fact that the town certainly lives up to its name.
We press on to Punakaiki where we are booked in to the Hydrangea Cottages overlooking the shoreline. Fabulous. The sun has miraculously reappeared. Desert island huts complete with an outside tub.
A brief stop here before we head again north in search of an early supper to the fishing and former mining town of Westport. Our opportunities for further photo shoots promoted by an informed 15 minutes wait for a house to drive by. On a 5m wide road. In a gale. With 50m sheer drops to the crashing sea. Only in New Zealand.
At Westport, in order to hone appetites further we take a bracing walk on the cliffs above Carter’s Bay, looking down on the reefs which treacherously holed many a vessel in earlier times. Seals, penguins and sea birds now form the population of these rocky outcrops.
A supper of freshly caught turbot with a basil and cashew pesto is a prized reward at the splendidly art deco Portside before we head back to the cottage, a 40-minute drive through rapidly-deteriorating conditions, gale force winds, heavy rain and sheet lightning around the corkscrew bends in musty dusky darkness.
The skies continued to play drum rolls on our roof throughout the night, with occasional blue flashes as the lightning spiked down on the surrounding mountain ranges.
All hopes of a sedentary amble along the coast was cut short by a “Road Closed” sign a few km north of our cottage. This only meant one thing; a return aaaaggghhh! to Greymouth in the monsoon conditions and then a big detour to reach our intended destination for the day in Nelson.
Grim weather indeed - the hardest rainfall we have seen since our arrival in NZ - but it at least made us feel like we were back home.
Clearing conditions allowed the trek to roll into the northern coastal town in sunshine. And a treat Nelson is too. Couthie Victorian streets nestling in a bowl of green hills surrounding the bay. Too late for pics this evening, it would be great to come back and explore further on our return leg.
The new day dawned bright and sunny as we wind our way to Picton and the ferry journey across to Wellington. Passing the many bays and coves along the Malborough Sounds was a very pleasant way to wish adieu to the South Island for a short while.
