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West Coast Road Trip
Our story begins in Nelson. To be more precise, it starts in a quaint little place called 'Shortbread Cottage.' Thus named for the fresh baked shortbread handed out to guests each morning. We can now also claim to have seen a Ukelele Orchestra play 'Tide is High' in a yurt. For those that are interested, that was no. 216 on my bucket list.
Before leaving Nelson we headed up to The Abel Tasman. Although we had a mildly overcast day, it was a beautiful place to wander. The highlight probably being a picnic overlooking the sand and sea.
We pick up a rental car from Rog the wheeler dealer. We see precisely 3 cars on our way to Westport. Here we stay in an amazing 1860's building which is more hotel than Backpackers. If anyone ever finds themselves in Westport, stay at the Tripinn.
Having taken an extra day to relax and let the weather clear, we start the drive down to Franz Josef. The drive between Westport and Greymouth is heralded as the best in New Zealand. It is pretty much coast road the whole way. We make a frantic stop to see the end of a rainbow plunging down into the sea right next to us. If there was any gold it sank to the bottom and the tide was pretty hairy. We also stopped to see The Pancake Rocks. These are named after an unexplained geological occurrence, which was cool but a little disappointing. I was hoping to find it sandwiched between Crepes Causeway and Muffin Mound.
Franz Josef is a glacier, as is Fox Glacier just down the way. We found Fox the more interesting place. The heaving mountain of cowardly ice was very impressive. This also the home of Lake Matheson. Which on a perfect day, such was the day we went, acts as a mirror for the mighty Mt Cook.
Next on to Wanaka, home of Lake Wanaka, which is famous for being a really big lake. We had another lovely hostel here in 'Wanaka Bakpaka,' and yes they are much better at running a hostel than naming one. The living/dining area overlooks the lake and mountains and we were told to head down to 'Cinema Paradiso.' After a cocktail in a super trendy bar, we ambled over to the well loved cinema. It is tiny. However, the walls are papered with old movie posters, the seating options include old plane seats, bus seats and a VW Beetle with the roof removed & they baked cookies for the interval... Oh and there's an interval. We only had the one night and so ended up seeing 'Snow White and the Huntsman' which is rather rubbish. In comparison the snowball homemade ice cream I had in the intermission was delightful.
Finally to Queenstown, a place known for it's elaborately expensive ways to die. One can jump off really tall things with an option of skis or parachute. We opted for the high octane sport of walking in the park. This is actually quite dangerous as it is home to a frisbee golf course. We also found something even more awesome than a Ukelele Orchestra playing Blondie in a Yurt. 'But what could be more awesome than that?' I hear you cry. How about a Ukelele Orchestra rocking out with Lady Gaga's 'Bad Romance.' This was part of the Queenstown Winter festival and the woman on vocals made an amazing Gaga.
There was also a day trip to Milford Sound which was pretty special. Yet another stunning blue day, surrounded by picture perfect snowy landscapes. Icicles over a metre long and frozen streams gave way to the glorious Milford Sounds. Apparently Milford isn't a Sound at all, but rather a fjiord. So I will be calling it Milfjiord from now on. So the cruise around Milfjiord was nice, but we'd pretty much been sceneried out, when a huge pod of dolphins decided to swim along with us. They took it turns to leap out of the water for some better photo ops and had two little babies in tow.
All in all it was a fantastic few weeks. A special mention to Queenstown's own Fergburger. A place that makes tasty tasty burgers bigger than a human head.
On that note, we wish you well and will be writing again soon.
Mike and Lou
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