South Island is Incredible

We have been driving all over South Island since my last post, and I can't think of a better word than magnificent to describe the landscape. To give you an idea: dense forests, babbling brooks, crystal-clear springs, raging rivers, green hilltops, towering snowy mountain peaks, massive glaciers, and tons of tons of sheep!

After Nelson, we drove along the northwest coastline on our way to the Abel Tasman National park (where we did a boat tour), stopping at the scenic seaport below.

After Abel Tasman (which was beautiful and featured a seal colony, but the beaches did not quite beat the west coast of Thailand) we stopped at the largest natural spring in New Zealand (pictured below). Signs along the path boasted that these were the clearest waters in the world, but Brian and I think that Aquarena Springs in San Marcos might give it a run for its money. Nice place nonetheless.

We ended up camping at a Department of Conservation site (below) that was supposed to cost $6 a person, but since no ranger came by to collect the dues, we camped for free!

It was a very nice area, situated next to a very Lord of the Rings-like forest, where several scenes from the movie were apparently filmed. Below is a quick shot of the forest we walked through, leading us to a sinkhole in the middle of the woods.


On the way back from the sinkhole, dubbed Harwoods Hole, we stopped off at the viewpoint pictured below to get a bird's eye view of the lush countryside (as usual, the picture does not do it justice!).
The next day, we continued south, stopping at the world-famous Pancake Rocks. These things were incredible, massive rock spires sticking straight out of the sea. The best part was watching to waves crash into the rocks while seagulls dodged the back splash. Incredible! Below are a couple of my favorite shots.



A funny side story: we nearly ran out of gas when we got to the Pancake Rocks and had to buy emergency fuel at about 400% the going rate. But I can definitely attribute some of the blame to the fact that there was only one warning along the way stating that there would be no where to buy gas for 88 km. The problem was that this sign was on the side of the road where no gas station was in sight! Ridiculous, I know. Anyways, we avoided the mess and kept driving south until we came to the beautiful mountain stream below.


We later realized that the rocks that we were standing on above were part of the massive glacial moraine, left behind by the receding Franz Josef glacier. Though the weather did not hold up, we did get to see the glacier and its wonderful accompanying waterfalls (pictured below).




It was cool seeing the glacier, but we could not get too close, as we had just read an article in the Department of Conservation outpost reading, "Bloody stupid tourists injured getting too close to glacier." Basically, a huge chunk of ice landed on an Australian that got too close for a photo op. We did not want to make the papers, so we kept our distance.

Though we had planned a day-long hike above the Fox glacier for the next day, the morning weather was poor, so we decided to do a beach hike leading us to a seal colony. Unfortunately, the four hour-hike proved fruitless as far as seals are concerned (as you can see above), but we did end up at a very nice secluded beach. Also, as indicated by the photo above, the weather turned for the better during the hike, and afterwards we made our way to the Fox glacier. Comically enough, a group of cows including their jumpy offspring pictured below slowed our trip to the next glacier.
As you can see below, we did finally get to the next glacier and were happy to see that we could get even closer to the Fox than the Franz Josef. I decided to take the opportunity to say Happy Birthday to my grandma Dot. I hope you guys are partying hard in New Jersey for the occasion!

After the glacier visits, we headed even further south last night to arrive in Wanaka, a very picturesque mountain town. Today we have just been taking it easy, having a short walk along the edge of the lake, where I took some time to relax and soak in the scenery below.

I think it is safe to say that we love New Zealand at this point. I can't wait to explore more of this place!


Mike