Just a quick rundown of the past few days road tripping it, casually to the hundy (a bit of Kiwi Hoodlum speak for you)…Did scott tell you we saw a COLLOSSAL squid in Wellington? Well we did. It was a little bit big, that’s for sure. And the only one to have been caught in the world.
Anyway, after arriving in Picton and travelling through Nelson we stayed in Motueka, which is a cute little town on the North coast of the South Island. We were here to kayak, and we stayed in a gorgeous little backpacking place called Happy Apple, ran by a lovely Farmer. Me and Scott drove to Kaiteriteri, about twenty minutes away and we checked out the tide coming in on a little white sandy beach. I did a bit of shell and rock collecting for my Mum and dad…found my self some Paua shell! Hurrah 
We headed back there the next day, intended to sea kayak with Thomas…but alas the clouds were drawing in and we were told we could only kayak under supervision as the weather was about to turn nasty. So instead we hopped into the car and continued on towards Franz Josef, home of a huge Glacier. Along the way we stopped to cross a crazy swing bridge…terrifying but worth the 5 dollars…except for maybe a certain 15 year old jumping up and down and making the excessively long thing bounce around. Continuing on we had a look at pancak rocks…a strange feat of mother nature that is quite baffling….layers and layers of rock formed a zillion years ago (or something like that) by the sea….the sea crashes around it (the biggest waves I have ever seen) and the noise is deafening.
When we got to Franz Josef it was freezing, dark and we naively opted for the dorm room. There was only one man in there, but he’d blatantly been enjoying his own humid cess pit for a few days by now and it was quite gross in there. I fell asleep to the sound of Blade Runner in the background and we all got up and out early as the place was a bit rank. We ended up at Fox glacier, because we couldn’t find poor Josef’s. Well, with all of those mountains, who could blame us? Fox Glacier is incredible. And to think that at the point where we are stood for our pictures the glacier was also once stood, a little over 300 years ago. There was also evidence of ice breaking, previous melting and the river was fast flowing and also huge. This can mean only one thing. Global warming people. Turn off your bloody lights. Please.
Anyway, due to flooding and danger, we weren’t allowed right up to it (like in the olden days, see Scott’s first NZ blog, circa 2004) but it didn’t matter. It’s majesty was visible from afar.
We continued along our road trip down the infamous West Coast. According to the Lonely Planet Guide, this road is one of the 10 most amazing routes you could ever drive through – and they aren’t wrong. Not that I’ve been on the other 9 (and what ones are they anyway?) but seriously guys and girls….everything before your eyes is picture perfect. High Definition High Definition (HiDef squared as I call it)….it’s like a constant ride through a Ridge Racer track. Ever changing, we encountered lush forests, huge hills overshadowed by even more gargantuan mountains, dense, crystal blue lakes for miles and miles, each one bigger than the last, fields full of sheep (yes, sheep! would you believe it?) cows, horses, Deer (which ok, all sound fairly normal but amongst a backdrop of perfect Beauty take you back a few hundred, even thousands of years) there are also Hawks and Eagles flying above you wherever you go……. I don’t know. There’s no way of describing its perfection. It all felt like a dream. It may still be! I don’t know….and even though the first part of trip may have been done in rainfall…heavy rainfall…and we possibly missed a lot of what can be seen on a sunny day, the rain didn’t detract from the majesty of it all. If anything, the low lying clouds and never ending mist only further added to the insane, surreal like experience of it all.Plus, the second half was done in bright sunshine so we got a mixed bag of it all.
This really is a land untouched. You get this goosebump inducing feeling that this is what the world SHOULD look like. All of the time. If us Humans weren’t such dirty, grubbing leeches that is.
The ironic thing here is that both cameras ran out far earlier than they should have…and so the only pictures I have are in my memory. I’m sorry. We have some…but the last leg was done in cinematic silence. I will describe it to whoever wants me to when I get back. I’ll show you on the map and remember as best as I can. And I know all stories are exaggerated, all memories only a whisper of the real thing, but honestly, what I have seen can not be more of an absolute truth swathed in sheer disbelief. No matter what I tell you about it, you must magnify it 100fold in your mind and even then it can not touch a a 100th of the surreality to the place.
It really is a dream.
Phil - Dad says...
Hevie, I know you love the film “stand by me”, well, in the original short story by Stephen King called “the body”, there is a moment when the leading boy wakes early on his journey, and walks off alone… he comes across a young deer on the railway track, and struggles with the magnitude of the beauty of what he just saw, and comes to the conclusion that there are just some things in life that are so stunning, no amount of words can come close to conveying to others just what an impact it had on your entire psyche and soul.
)
Now, to qualify that, that isnt to say you shouldnt try… after all, virtually all the people you know will never ever get to see the things you and Scotty are seeing, so you owe us a debt, a duty if you like, to at least try…. and so far, youre doing a grand job!!! I just wanted to remind you of that Book and that moment so you dont feel overwhelmed with the task of having to describe just how magnificent all of the things you are living, are.
Thanks again for such a rich and textured update… I especially loved the bit about the Sole inhabitants “rank” and “Humid cess pit”…lol !!
Awesome
Love you guys, and thanks again for this travelog! xxx
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