South Island - First Leg: West Coast

Wow, so much has happened that I just haven't spent any time updating the blog. I absolutely love New Zealand, it is such a beautiful small country but with incredible beauty, gorgeous vistas, friendly and fun people, many mountains and lakes, and lots of wildlife.

Our first stop after going through Arthur's Pass (beautiful views along this road) was Greymouth along the west coast. Had to stop for lunch to get some nourishmnet and do a little walk around the small town before heading on to the glacier areas. Our drive took us by Franz Josef Glacier kind of late so we ended up going just a bit furtrher to stay in Fox Glacier for the night at Ivory Towers where we were able to make some phone calls to our families. Carrie tried to get us a free helicopter ride to the glacier (it costs $90 for a 10 minute ride) but no luck so we decided to walk to the base of the glacier the next day. In preparation for the short walk we needed some dinner and turns out some drinks were in order as well. :) Met up with some locals at the bar Cook's Saddle when the noise drew us in. Turns out a cricket game was happening and it was New Zealand vs. Austalia. Big rivalry there, sorry it didn't turn out better for you Kiwis! Tried the local beer, Speights Old Black for me - okay maybe a few of the local beers might be more accurate. :) Met some fun locals who also gave us more info on our next stops and some possible free places to stay! Thanks.

Woke up to pouring rain but after we had some breakfast we drove to the Walk to Fox Glacier. Turned out to be a great wee walk to the base with some great views along the way. A glacier evidently moves 100,000 times slower then a river. Crazy huh! Oh, we also saw the only alpine parrot, the Kea. Wicked! The glacier makes you realize how tiny and insignificant we are and also shows you the power of nature. On to Wanaka, and let me tell you when we drove in we immediately loved it there. I think for me it reminded me a bit of my hometown because the town is right on the lake and we also just had a beautiful sunny two days there! Carrie was excited because we ordered some pizza which she had been craving for awhile. Ended up staying at a cute hostel, Wanaka Bakpaka's. Beautiful view of the lake and the mountains surrounding the town.

Did a great walk around the lake and then a hike (tramp in Kiwi speak) on the Millennium Walkway which ended at a gorgeous rocky beach on the lake. It was so peaceful there and I just wish I could share that feeling with everyone. Oh, there were some sheep who turned up to join us briefly. The tramp back was a little more difficult, feeling the workout. Met up with some friends in the area for a drink at Shooters and Carrie got me out dancing for a bit as well. Good night's sleep and hung out by the lake just a bit before making the drive on to Queenstown.

The drive to Queenstown was a bit of a hell drive with lots of switchbacks and by the time we arrived early evening my head was pounding. I had to take a short nap and I never nap. Carrie on the other hand absolutely loves her naps and since we've been in New Zealand she hasn't had much opportunity for napping. Turns out we felt better and went out for a nice dinner, a treat! I had some great grouper and tried some green lipped mussels. Pretty good I must say! Joined a Fox Glacier friend Jeremy who was in town and ended up staying at his friend Marty's place up on the hill right around Queenstown. Thanks so much Marty! Took the day to drive to Glenorchy with some pretty views along the way, good food when we arrived, and a bit of relaxing by the beach. Previously, we booked ourselves to do the Canyon Swing at 5:30pm. Gulp. So, we returned and were so nervous about it - the anticipation was killing us. So, Carrie and I did rock/paper/scissors because we both wanted to go first and I won. Hmmm, is that really winning?

The van finally arrived and drove us up a bit to the jumping point where we harnassed up and I volunteered to go first among our entire group. Gulp again! The canyon swing is 109m high (a wee bit over 300 feet), with a 60 m frefall and 200m arc. You can pick all different ways to jump and I decided just to do a forward jump (probably the easiest). I remember the guy saying it's best if you do it quick and before he could countdown evidently I actually jumped/dove off with arms and legs spread like I was flying. The feeling was exhilarating and the swing across the canyon at the bottom was so free. When they reeled me back up the guys said that it was a great dive and they totally didn't expect me to do it that way. Well, neither did I!

We celebrated by going with Jeremy to the bar where Marty was working, the Cow. Cute bar/restaurant and I tried out another Speights beer, the Summer Ale which had a good ginger honey flavor. Also, I had an incredible veggie pizza with blue cod. All I can say is wow! I probably could have eaten the whole thing myself! Yummy! Off to Marty's spare couch to crash for the night. So, no bungee for us but the canyon swing was incredible! And safe! :)

I'll continue with the Second Leg of the West Coast later!