Feb 8, 2013 - Hokitika

Today we drove south along the coast from Westport to Hokitika. We stopped to see a seal colony. The seals we saw are the Southern Fur Seal which are slightly different from North American seals. They have a thick fur coat to protect them from the colder water here.

Nov 12, 2012 - living on the ark

We had our best room ever in the Noah's Ark Backpackers in Greymouth. We are in the "giraffe" room, which is a corner room about 15'x20' with huge windows on two sides, an unusable fireplace on one wall and giraffe decorations (stuffed animal, duvet covers, murals and pillows) in the room! It was once a monastery so has high ceilings, wooden accents with lead glass windows - very, very neat! A cruise down the coast to Hokitika was the order for the day. Along the water the road was straight (very unusual for NZ) and you could actually go...

Nov 1, 2012 - Hokitika

Nov. 1 I lied we really are in another town, Hokitika. We will go to Franz Josef in two days. Hokitika is the plain sister to Punakaiki’s beauty. Her coastlines are straight without the uplifting rock formations. Her waves are sedate and lack intensity. She does have a southwesterly wind which made G and I hunker down in a sandpit nestled in reeds like two sand pipers awaiting a calmer day. Another thing she has which Punakaiki did not is a downtown. It is a real town with a museum and a historical walk around its quay. Their local museum...

Mar 17, 2012 - Arthurs Pass, Wild Foods Festival in Hokitika

This week as previously stated we worked in Arthur's Pass region at two different locations. Both had views that were simply spectacular and the accommodation of the second site was great, definitely had the outdoorsy charm with it (when the lights go off its pitch black and with a wake up call of wasps in the washroom in the morning. Noiw the first job was just outside Arthur's Pass which is completely different than Twizel. For in Twizel you could see for miles but there the bush was so dense and jungle like. Realized why the guys hated...

Sep 26, 2010 - Freight Lines To Hokitika

For three days I took a trip to the South Island with Katherine's Uncle Robin in his Freight Lines truck making deliveries. We drove from Wellington to Hokitika, through Arthur's Pass which was incredible to Christchurch, back up to Nelson, then to Picton to get the Bluebridge ferry back to Wellington - I slept a lot too!

Dec 4, 2009 - A Tramping We Will Go....

Friday December 4 – Hokitika A Tramping We Will Go Ripped from today’s front page headlines in the Hokitika Guardian: “Local high school grad going to law school.” The whole town showed up for the Upper Class awards ceremony (even the lower class, I think). But that’s not the important one. Here’s the other: “Department of Conservation defends its glacier signs in court”. Turns out that last January a couple of brothers from India ignored the warning signs and rope barriers and got up close and personal with Fox Glacier, just as a few...

Sep 15, 2009 - Día 13: St. Arnaud - Hokitika

Hoy nos levantamos con la intriga de lo que nos íbamos a encontrar a la luz del día. Como dice Lola, es alucinante el sitio de acampada, por 4 lerus cada uno, con servicios y electricidad!! Pues nada, al levantarnos confirmamos que estábamos al lado de un lago, pero vaya lago!! Es un lago al pie de unas montañas (coño, parece la canción de Marco) nevadas. Y para el colmo, van los tíos y ponen una cabañita con cocina, fregadero y unas mesas para poder comer y con vistas al laguito!!! Y todo por el mismo precio!! Tenemos mucho que aprender de...

Mar 21, 2009 - my week long journey of the south island

well this is going to be a long one its been awhile since i could update this and what a week it has been where to start well we left dunedin around 3:00pm on Thursday afternoon a week ago we had a rather long Thursday night at the student pub on campus $4 pint night not a bad Wednesday night. we had plans to drive all afternoon and night up to franz josef glacier and spend the night and then do a full day glacier hike the next morning at around 8:00am. things don't always work out as planned though we unfortunately fell into what i like to...

Feb 7, 2009 - Franz Josef Glacier

The Tasman Sea side of the South Island is definitely the wet side. Moisture laden winds that have traveled from Antarctica run into the Southern Alps shortly after they make land fall and drop that moisture as they start to rise. The vegetation here is typical of a rain forest, very green and lush. It rained a lot last night and the lesson we learned from our visit to Milford Sound is that if the clouds have a chance to dump some of their moisture content, they lighten up for a while. So we proceeded with the plans we had made at home...

Oct 6, 2008 - Moana - Hokitika

Depart Moana: 2413 km (10.30) Didn't get up until 8 today, and Nick a little bit after that. Late nights are catching up with us! The weather was clear and bright, with a bit of hazy, high cloud. Bit windy again today though. We took the road south through Moana and down to Jacksons then headed east towards Arthur's Pass. Nick was determined to cycle up the pass despite lots of people pooh-poohing the idea. The weather was encouraging, but a little too windy for my liking. Mind you, the drive up the pass made me think that it was perhaps...

Mar 25, 2008 - Glacier Day: Haast - Hokitika

Great day. Got up early and headed north to Fox Glacier. Weather still holding and the short walk to the glacier was pleasant. The health and safety idiots have prevailed and it is no longer possible to walk to the glacier without a myriad of warnings, signs and roped-off areas. From the glacier, we then drove towards the sea to the Mt Cook lookout. Excellent views of the Southern Alps and Mt Cook and we had a picnic there, taking in the views. After a short walk at Lake Matheson we headed to Franz Josef Glacier before the weather changed....

Mar 24, 2008 - Down the West Coast: Glenhope to Hokitika

The horny smelly goat story...and why I'm never going to eat goat's cheese again. The drive from up north to the glaciers needed to be split up over two days so Claire came up with the goods again and found us a pretty farmhouse to stay in, complete with valley views and a fire prepared by the owners in the evening. Claire was soon communing with nature with the resident pig and horse, whist I puttered around and sorted out some laundry...farm animals have never been my strong point. The laundry line was in the goat and sheep 'pen' and...