NZ Roadtrip south island day1-4
Door: Eelco
Blijf op de hoogte en volg Eelco
30 December 2012 | Nieuw Zeeland, Franz Josef
Wanaka, Haast Pass and the west coast glaciers
day1: After leaving my flat on the 27th Michael, Dominik and me left Christchurch for our 10 day roadtrip around the south island of New Zealand. Our first day involved a 6 hour drive to the lake-city of Wanaka. In between the mountains the weather was very nice and dipping our feet in the water felt very nice.
Day 2: On the 28th we left early morning to drive to the west coast. Haast pass is a rainforest with beautiful nature such as the blue pools and cool waterfalls. Unfortunately this atmosphere is also a good home to one of New Zealands most annoying insects; the sandfly, which is described by wikipedia as: any species or genus of flying, biting, blood-sucking Dipteran encountered in sandy areas. This resulted in us inventing the "sandfly dance" which is executed by slapping random exposed areas (such as arms and legs) of your body when an itchy or stingy feeling arises. We enjoyed all the beautiful places, but at the blue pools they were so annoying that we did not stay long. Just before arriving at Franz Joseph we got a glimpse of Fox glacier.
Day 3: We had booked a heli-hike for this day. A helicopter takes you to the top of the glacier where you do a 2 hour walk along the ice. After that the helicopter takes you back. Although very expensive this would be a great experience. Unfortunately the weather messed up the plans and the heli-hike was cancelled. It was very rainy and the glaciers were covered in clouds. We have rescheduled to the morning of the 31st but it seems that we have chosen a couple of bad weather days at the glaciers. The west coast is known to have bad weather, but this is just too bad.
To make the best of the day we took our newly bought rainjackets and went out to lake matheson and the beach. Lake Matheson is allegedly New Zealands most photographed lake. I found out that the reason is that you can see the reflections of the mountains in the lake. Although the lake is nice the weather refused to give us any reflections. At the beach we could see the west coast cliffs and have some fun with the pebbles at the beach. We ended the day at the Blue Ice Bar in Franz Joseph. I can recommend the " sticky fingers" spare ribs and I think they may have been the best spare ribs I have ever had, definetly good value for money (and staying at a backpackers gives you an even better deal).
Day 4: Today we visited the glacier fronts of the Fox and Franz Joseph glaciers. Impressive ice masses between the mountains and the glacier rivers make it very nice places to visit. One of my Kea friend decided to pose for a picture with the glacier.
Tomorrow we try to do a heli-hike again but it is likely to get cancelled. We drive to Greymouth afterwards for a New year's Eve celebration if there is any posibility to do that there.
Don't forget to check out the pictures.
day1: After leaving my flat on the 27th Michael, Dominik and me left Christchurch for our 10 day roadtrip around the south island of New Zealand. Our first day involved a 6 hour drive to the lake-city of Wanaka. In between the mountains the weather was very nice and dipping our feet in the water felt very nice.
Day 2: On the 28th we left early morning to drive to the west coast. Haast pass is a rainforest with beautiful nature such as the blue pools and cool waterfalls. Unfortunately this atmosphere is also a good home to one of New Zealands most annoying insects; the sandfly, which is described by wikipedia as: any species or genus of flying, biting, blood-sucking Dipteran encountered in sandy areas. This resulted in us inventing the "sandfly dance" which is executed by slapping random exposed areas (such as arms and legs) of your body when an itchy or stingy feeling arises. We enjoyed all the beautiful places, but at the blue pools they were so annoying that we did not stay long. Just before arriving at Franz Joseph we got a glimpse of Fox glacier.
Day 3: We had booked a heli-hike for this day. A helicopter takes you to the top of the glacier where you do a 2 hour walk along the ice. After that the helicopter takes you back. Although very expensive this would be a great experience. Unfortunately the weather messed up the plans and the heli-hike was cancelled. It was very rainy and the glaciers were covered in clouds. We have rescheduled to the morning of the 31st but it seems that we have chosen a couple of bad weather days at the glaciers. The west coast is known to have bad weather, but this is just too bad.
To make the best of the day we took our newly bought rainjackets and went out to lake matheson and the beach. Lake Matheson is allegedly New Zealands most photographed lake. I found out that the reason is that you can see the reflections of the mountains in the lake. Although the lake is nice the weather refused to give us any reflections. At the beach we could see the west coast cliffs and have some fun with the pebbles at the beach. We ended the day at the Blue Ice Bar in Franz Joseph. I can recommend the " sticky fingers" spare ribs and I think they may have been the best spare ribs I have ever had, definetly good value for money (and staying at a backpackers gives you an even better deal).
Day 4: Today we visited the glacier fronts of the Fox and Franz Joseph glaciers. Impressive ice masses between the mountains and the glacier rivers make it very nice places to visit. One of my Kea friend decided to pose for a picture with the glacier.
Tomorrow we try to do a heli-hike again but it is likely to get cancelled. We drive to Greymouth afterwards for a New year's Eve celebration if there is any posibility to do that there.
Don't forget to check out the pictures.
Reageer op dit reisverslag
Je kunt nu ook Smileys gebruiken. Via de toolbar, toetsenbord of door eerst : te typen en dan een woord bijvoorbeeld :smiley
