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From the beach to the snow to the river, this was the plan off today.
What a beautiful start to the day. A 30 second walk to the beachfront where we were greeted by bright blue sky, crashing waves, and a temperature that was fairly generous by South Island spring standards (this means I didn't have my thermals or a jumper on, just my ABs jersey in honour of the game tonight). After checking out we decided to take a look around the town. Being that it was a Sunday morning and it's a small town anyway there was no one else around, it was almost like the shops were open just for us. It stayed this way for the next 30 mins where after that I saw maybe 10 people shopping. We went to the glass blowing studio which was amazing, so many fantastic and intricate pieces, too many to choose from. We also got to see Ruby Rock, this is a beautiful gem only found in Hokitika and contains Ruby, Sapphire and Tourmaline crystals all in one stone. I would have loved a piece of Ruby Rock jewellery but unfortunately the pieces were both expensive and ugly. Also very precious and found on the West Coast is Pounamu otherwise known as Greenstone or NZ Jade. There were three or four different pounamu shops so after visiting the second one we gave up on the other two as they were starting to look the same.
Next stop Franz Josef glacier. Again the roads were windy, hilly, but manageable. Prior to our trip our Pop told us the must do is a helicopter ride up to the glacier, so that is what we set out to do. When we got to the helicopter place we were told the minimum they take up is three people, STINK ONE! So now we were to play the waiting game to see if someone else would turn up for a flight. Well we were lucky, we only had to wait a couple of minutes. For whatever reason they changed their minds and decided to take the two of us up, AWESOME!! And it got even better, the moment we went up in the chopper got around the corner and saw the glacier for the first time was impressive. There is no other way to see a glacier than from the air. The ice was bright blue and bright white, the photos we took would not do the glacier justice. We even got to land in the snow, but we had to be pretty careful. Our guide pointed out spots around us, "don't go there, that's a cliff, that's a frozen lake that could crack under weight, and over there cracks are already starting to appear". Needless to say we stayed very close to the chopper. While hovering over the glacier we could see all the way to the ocean. Hands down this has been the highlight of our trip so far. If you ever have the chance this is the one thing you must do!
After the flight we decided to see the glacier from the ground and took a walk out to the base of the glacier. This took about an hour return and was well worth it. The base where the river flows from just looked like a massive ice cave. Not something you see everyday.
Once we had finished at the glacier it was time to head to Haast. Not many people had heard of this place and now I know why. The "town" consists of one pub, one general store, the police station and our accomodation. We had no cellphone coverage and being Generation Y this made me a little nervous. Our room was even better than the last, nice and big, and being that we were in the middle of nowhere it was so nice and peaceful.
Dinnertime and then gearing up for the big game. I won't bother talking about the game, I'm sure you all saw it. But what I will tell you is that I am so excited, words cannot describe, that I am going to the Rugby World Cup 2011 Final to see the All Blacks smash the French!!!!!!!!!!!
Next stop Queenstown!!
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