West Coast

I still can't get over it! I'm in New Zealand! Internet access here is slow and expensive, hence the lack of posts and why I haven't been replying to emails. Not to mention I've been so busy. It's been raining a lot, but it hasn't really affected me much. I've been eating a LOT of peanut butter. Breakfast and lunch, everyday. So I bought oatmeal, thinking I would just add sugar, since all the hostel kitchens have had it so far. But not this one. So I put peanut butter in my porridge. Dinner has been better. Lots of pasta. But I've also made stir fry and rice and a stew.

Typical view in Abel Tasman.

I did the Abel Tasman Coastal Track for 2 nights. I had to cross an estuary at low tide. It was still up to my hips at one point. It was so beautiful! Blue ocean, green forests, golden beaches... It was pouring rain the whole time except when I was walking! I was going to take a water taxi back but it was too rough to land on the beach, so the company sent a van to get us. 2 people had to catch a bus to Nelson at 4:30. We got picked up at 3 and it's a 1.5 hour drive... So the guy was speeding. Kiwis are maniacs behind the wheel! Tight little curvy mountain roads falling off a cliff are posted at 80+km/h. Roads that would be 70 at home are 100. I haven't been one a single multi-lane highway on the south island, but I've definitly gone faster than 100km/h. Anyways, we got pulled over. And then we were followed for 15 minutes because there was nothing else in the town for the police to do! The people still made their bus, because our driver knew the bus driver. Everybody knows everybody else here, it seems.

Some girls I walked with in Abel Tasman.

Then I got stranded in Marahau, the access town for the park, because my bus left early. One of the locals took me to town to get groceries. They were all really friendly. And there were a few people who had stayed from the bus, who I'm still hanging around with. I did my laundry and walked on the beach. There are much worse places to be stranded.

Pancake Rocks in Punakaiki.

We drove down the coast to a place called Cape Foulwind where we had yet more magnificent views of gorgeous beaches in the middle of nowhere. Then we stopped at Punakaiki to see the pancake rocks there. Pretty neat, lots of nice views. We stayed overnight in a town of 40 people and 100 cows called Barrytown. Some people went bone carving in the morning, but I walked to the beach with Inge from the Netherlands. (I'm hanging out with a bunch of Dutch people.) We went looking for greenstone (jade) not really expecting to find any, but then we found tons! Or so we thought. Apperently it wasn't, but who knows! It was fun, despite the thousands of sandfly bites I got!

Coming out of a wormhole in the glacier.

Now I'm in Franz Josef Glacier Village. I did a glacier walk yesterday on the "steepest guided glacier in the world". It was pretty cool. The views were, as usual, amazing. I spent 5 hours walking on a glacier. All the guides were in shorts and t-shirts! It wasn't that cold, but not that warm either. This morning I did a hike with my friend through the rainforest here. We had a snack on a rock in the middle of a glacial river. Now I'm sitting in an internet cafe in an old, converted bus. Tomorrow I head down towards Mt. Aspiring National Park and then to Queenstown. I might stop in Wanaka for a couple of nights as well.

On the walk this morning.