Travel is what I love.
It's full of surprises,
the unexpected.
Usually wonderful.
Sometimes not so much.
Today was no different!!
The untamed west coast road ends in remote Jackson Bay.
The drive was gorgeous.
The lunch, served in a bright orange railway cart overlooking the ocean, was a delight.
In Haast we were able to find a heli service with good ideas for a fishing trip on the river.
The Haast Pass to Wanaka is spectacular to say the least, every corner begging to be photographed, the road mostly too twisty and narrow to oblige!
Nev napped as I drove thro Wanaka and I made the call to let him sleep; there'd be gas in the next town I thought.
Ian had suggested we take the backroad pass into Queenstown and stop at the pub in Cardrona.
So we did.
Our gas tank was showing low but we drove up the steep mountain road, around hairpin bends, wondering where this pub was, marveling at Ian’s adventurous spirit!!
Wrong road...
it went to the Cardrona Ski Lift up in the sky!!
My mistake.
The drive back down was quiet,
and too steep to freewheel.
The beer and glass of wine at the pub didn't taste so good!!!
For the 30 minute drive back to Wanaka we freewheeled as much as possible, trickling in on the smell of an oil rag...
it’s the most fuel we've ever put into JURNEE!!!
Talk about relief.
We drove into Queenstown around 6pm, smiling, and excited to have completed our circumnavigation of the South Island.
Ayayayayay!!!

We skipped Fox Glacier, choosing to go to Lake Matheson instead.
It's the most photographed lake in NZ.
On a clear, still day it reflects Mt Tasman and Mt Cook, most spectacularly at sunset.
While Nev went off in search of a campground I thoroughly enjoyed the 40 minute walk around the lake. Unfortunately the winds had picked up some and all hopes of that beautiful mirror image shot were dashed.
Added to that, both mountains were covered in cloud!
I was lucky to find one little protected corner to snap a picture...
Somehow Nev and I missed each other at the pick up point at 5pm so I walked the 4 miles back into town, rescued by South African Francois who owns NEVE restaurant and gave me a glass of South African Red and a cell phone charger!!
We found each other
Our campground was at the foot of snow covered mountains
We cooked an amazing rack of lamb on our new handy barbecue.
Loved it all.

Today we visited the Franz Josef Glacier.
This finger of ice is the largest of the glaciers on the South Island and stands mighty above the coastline.
It's amazing, though, to walk past a sign denoting where the glacier used to reach...
it has receded just over a kilometer in the past 11 years.
The pinnacle of the glacier was covered in cloud, but sun shone through in patches highlighting the lovely blue hues.
Helicopters hovered above...
A visit is offered to tourists by helicopter companies: get dropped off on the glacier for a hike and then an overnight stay in a tent on the ice...
I was tempted but Nev not so much!!
I'm glad we came to see this west coast spectacle.
As we walked back to JURNEE I wondered how much longer it will be visible and accessible to us...

A west coast delicacy is whitebait.
Lucky for us it's in season this time of the year.
In Hokitika we tried some.
We ordered a pattie.
Once we got over the look of the pattie, we thoroughly enjoyed it!!
It consists of many, many, many tiny white fish, heads and tails intact because they're about the length of my pinky finger but a fraction of the thickness and too tiny to top n tail,
thrown into a beaten egg,
sprinkled with salt and fresh lemon juice!
Yum!

Our drive to Westport through the Buller River Gorge on Monday afternoon was stunningly beautiful...
a fabulous start to this journey after "au revoir"s had been said to Elwyn and Robynne who plan to join us in Mexico later this year.
Our campground was 100 steps from Carter Beach which proved to be a great beach for a long walk as the sun was making its way down to the horizon on an unusually calm (no wind) evening.
This morning we put our hiking boots on and tramped along the coastal walkway from Cape Foulwind Lighthouse to the seal colony, again so thankful for the calm weather.... it's named Cape Foulwind for a reason!!!
The good news is that both of us had a great walk, our feet comfy in our boots, our minds and conversation frequently drifting to our upcoming big walk on the Kepler track;
and we were lucky enough to spot a few seals way down on the rocks below us as they lazily soaked up the sun, blissfully unaware of the attention they were getting.
Hokitika was our next stop.
Love that name!!
We visited the Hokitika Gorge, the colors of the river amazing, the fun Nev had scaring me on the suspension bridge priceless!
Our campground is directly opposite the glow worm dell.
We barbecued chicken and enjoyed yummy warm green bean salad and red wine whilst waiting for 10pm...
the recommended siting time for glow worms.
Nev was a reluctant participant at first...
but even he was impressed at the spectacle these fly larvae created in the pitch dark...
I thought their glows created an earthly Milky Way....
quite amazing, really!
And, on that wonderful note, we're off to bed.

From my journal:
"On Saturday, while the three men took our JURNEE for an oil change and tire rotation, Robynne and I went for a fabulous walk... she's super strong and really challenged me, but I loved our steep climb up to the Center of New Zealand, the center point of the two islands.
The 360 degree view from the top is spectacular and I was happy to catch my breath taking it all in.
Then we walked down past the field where the first ever rugby game was played in NZ, and on to Farmers Market where I bought homemade turmeric, ginger and cayenne pepper paste and we met our men who'd loaded up on bread, biltong, dry wors, local cherries and granola!
Our time here has largely been spent eating, sitting out on the patio enjoying the beautiful view of the bay below, talking up a storm about life both past and present, laundry, packing JURNEE and preparing for our departure today.
JURNEE is having a solar panel installed on her rooftop this morning, a wonderful birthday pressie to Nev from Dillon and Trev... thanks boys...
and, after brekkie and provisioning, we're saying goodbye to these three lovely people, headed west...
It's been a wonderful, laid back beginning to this, our last month in New Zealand...
a most auspicious day with a date to suit it. "