Nelson to Franz Josef
Nelson was so lovely and quiet this morning as I walked though it. Wish I could have stayed longer. I saw a rainbow at Nelson beach from the bus on the way out of town. A nice omen, I think. I also saw a paddle boarder and a swimmer out there - at 7:30 am! Doing a little exercise?? .
On the bus, honestly, I can't believe what I'm seeing this morning. The tree covered mountains are so big in the window. They're everywhere surrounding us, but far enough away to get a good look at them. And in these giant bus windows they're just gorgeous. Majestic is the right word, I think. I hope they come out in the pictures.
It appears that we're following the circuitous path of a long wide river. It's pretty shallow now, but it's the dry season, and it seems like it would be a nice river to kayak or canoe down. The water is fairly calm, in greens and browns. But I don't see anyone out there today. Strange.
The railroad runs this route too - I keep seeing railroad bridges on the other side of the river. I suppose they don't want to cut through mountain to make the road/railroad so this is what they have instead.
The bus ride is not quite as bad as some of the twisty turning roads I've been on here, but it's still anything but straight. I'm not sure engineers here would really be any good at making straight roads on a grid, they're so seldom asked to do it.
We've arrived at Westport - we did not pit stop. But we reached the sea.
The west coast shores are rockin with waves. Does not look like a friendly sea today. And the fern trees that were missing from farther north on the island have returned. Oh, and it's raining a bit. A few unlucky passengers got off at the beach hostel, but this is no day at the beach. not like yesterday.
It stopped raining just in time for us to see the Pancake Rocks. They were pretty amazing. Got a few good pics. They call them Pancake Rocks because the layers of rock look like stacks of pancakes.
I thought I new and had a feel for New Zealand, but everything I've seen today makes me question that. Tree covered mountains, running rivers, it's a different place, this south island. Big giant polar bears of mountains, white clouds steaming out of them. Just stunning. We just passed a beautiful milky white river - gotta be glacier water right?
We arrive at Franz Josef Glacier.
Next morning - Walk to the Glacier
The fields are still very green here - no sign of summer heat. The temperature dropped quite a lot overnight and it's only expected to be high of 57 today. I can tell you I'm wearing half the clothes in my little suitcase today just to stay warm. Thankful that Marcia gave me a merino hoodie - I'm using it!
The walk was expected to take three and a quarter hours. It took me four and a half! Okay, I did stop for lunch and to rest a bit, but even so it felt like I walked eight hours!! My poor unfit body. It wasn't prepared for that at all. I guess I thought by this time in the trip I would be more prepared physically, but I guess that's not the case since mostly I just rode around in the car everywhere with Marcia.
The glacier was a bit anti-climactic, but I did get one good close-up pic. I kind of new it would be. Snow, not moving, far above you, how interesting can it be? Luckily the walk there and all my surroundings were breathtaking.
An unusually tropical forest for one that sits so close to a glacier, but I think that's on account of all the water. It really felt very much like an adventure just to walk through that forest. A bit creepy in its lushessness, in a way that I would not want to be there at night. It would feel haunted.
And the riverbed leading up to the glacier was stunning in its width and also the height of the mountains around me and waterfalls everywhere. And all the while you can see the glacier looming way off in the distance.
On the return walk, with the glacier behind you, you forget that it's there because the view gives you the impression that you're about to walk in to a tropical forest, which in fact you are. But it's sucha a strange feeling to then turn around and see this glacier. The two sides of the coin do not match at all.
Upon my return, I took myself out for a delicious hot cocoa (a bit special here) and a dazzling raspberry cheesecake. The hot cocoa was amazing, just as Marcia said it would be. They add hot foam, like you would get on a cappucino, to the top of the hot cocoa. It's so perfect! :-) And the cheesecake was great too. But the cocoa. I must remember to have another one of those.
