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Kia Ora!!
Thats Maori for Hello! After our sad farewell from Queenstown, we ventured towards the West Coast, on the map it looked only a few hours drive from A to B, but the roads were sooooo windey that i bet if we drove in a straight line it would have taken 1.5 hours, but because it was hairpin after hairpin it took us nearly all day!!
The journey was pretty amazing through, just out of Queenstown, we saw all the Bungy sites again, then into the barron wilderness, shortly after we came to Lake Wanaka, this is another spectacular part of the country. Absolutley stunning! So we pulled over for a mid morning tea break! We didnt go through Wanaka - just because of the time, but if I was to come back - I would definatley come and spent more time in this area.
Anyway, back on the road, and around, and around corner after corner, we emerged to a new town - Haast. I thought this would be it for the crazy roads, and back onto highways. Oh noooo, climbing up cliffs in our slow campervan and winding round a million more corners we somehow made it to Franz Josef, we decided to miss out on Fox Glacier, I only wanted to stop to buy some mints ( Obviously!) But again the time prevented us from stopping in. So we continued to Franz Josef and camped up for the night.
The camp site here was really quiet and peaceful, so just before we set down for the night we payed a visit to the resident minature ponies!! There were 6 in total, the first to come greet us were albino ones! But I tried taking a photo, and they gallopped away - never to return to us!
The next morning we awoke, and piled on our layers and went to climb Franz Josef glacier!! The route from the car park to the glacier itself was about a 40 minute walk and on rubble, it was basically the river bed for when the glacier melts and flows to the sea....... Not today!! Anyway we got within 100 metres of the glacier - and knowing my luck... my 3 week old camera packed in...
Devastation!!!
So no photographs. So I could tell you anything about our day at the glacier, but ill be honest!! We didnt climb it just went to see it!! Then we got back to the van and drove further up the west coast. Later in the day we came to Hokitika, a retirement town basically!!! Nothing was going on in the town, so we parked up and watched a movie!
The one good thing to come out of our stop in Hokitika was - I found $5 on the floor. And I bought myself a brand spanking new camera, I spent a blooming fortune on this one, it cost a lot more than a fiver... but so I hope that it doesnt break!! Every little helps aye!!!
Also the camp site we were staying on had access to the beach, and along the sandy walkway to the beach housed a Blue Penguin Colony!!! We didnt spot any penguins, but if we had looked, im sure we'd have seen some!!
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