Originally my mind was set on an early departure this morning in order to make it back up and over the Southern Alps and down into Christchurch before the rains came. This meant I would have to forgo a visit to the Franz Josef Glacier. The primary draw for my drive up the West Coast was the glaciers, however. But, I was trying to create and keep to a schedule of sorts. I only have a week left and there's plenty more I want to see and do.
The schedule changed the very instant I stepped out of my cabin this morning and discovered a beautiful, clear, sunny day with no rain in sight.
A radical shift was needed and visiting the glacier went right to the top of the list. Perhaps I could quickly do that and then get on the road to Christchurch in a timely fashion.
This schedule changed once again as soon as I realized that I would be spending a number of hours at the glacier. The signs indicated a 90 minute round-trip hike but that does not take into account copious amounts of wandering, pondering, and shutterbugging. If you're gonna do it, do it right. And so it was that I spent over 2-1/2 hours just taking it all in.
On a personal note I am very glad I took the time to put on sunscreen today. I didn't do so yesterday and wound up scorching my face a bit. The sun is far more intense here and all the guidebooks warn about it. Sadly, I've always had a little trouble with authority and no damn book is gonna to tell me what to do. I have to learn these lessons on my own. Guess I still have a bit of young and stupid in me after all.
I returned to the little town of Franz Josef for a long, late lunch and to use a cafe's Wi-Fi to post yesterday's blog entry. From there I headed north, now resigned to the fact that I would not make it to Christchurch, as it was now already mid-afternoon. I figured I would drive halfway up into the mountains and maybe land in Arthur's Pass Village and overnight there or maybe somewhere else on the down slope.
But it was pretty slow and go, as I kept stopping to take in views of rivers and mountains and rivers and mountains and moraines and floodplains and vast tracts of farmland and did I mention rivers and mountains?
I stopped in the little town of Hokitika to do online research for lodging in the town of Greymouth 36 km north. (Am I talking in kilometers now??? Yikes!)
I figured I'd get there by 6 PM and, feeling worn out, felt I should call it a day.
Also, I could see that the rains were indeed enveloping the Southern Alps and didn't want to drive twisty mountain roads in that.
I reviewed a bunch of hotels in Greymouth and all of them seemed to have something wrong with them, some complaint that was posted that put me off.
After an hour of that, I said "Screw it. I'll just stay here in Hokitika."
And so it shall be written, and so it shall be done.
I'm staying in the absolutely clean, spacious and charming Annabel Motel which is the best joint I've stayed in so far. I poked around Hokitika a little bit earlier and it is also delightful, having been resurrected from a defunct mining town into a very arty, Mendocino-like place with all sorts of galleries and a big trade in jade carvings.
This is where they've been pulling the green stone out of the earth since the Maori days and it is still a going concern.
I'll spend a few hours in the morning taking in a little bit more of the town before I finally push north and then east to Christchurch. I will spend one night there before heading north along the East Coast toward the northern head of the island.
Okay. So much for short and sweet. As usual, here some photos from today's record-breaking drive. Yes, I drove 83 miles, the least amount of miles on the entire trip so far.
No comments:
Post a Comment