We left Franz Joseph somewhat disappointed this morning, as the helicopter flight that we had arranged to do over Mount Cook, and the Franz Joseph and Fox Glaciers was cancelled, due to bad weather and poor visibility.
Bummer. I was really looking forward to that! Especially because I have never been in a chopper before….and I still haven’t!!
Oh, well. Theses things will happen I suppose…and coming from sunny old Blighty, I suppose I’m no stranger to the old weather coming around and messing up all your plans!
Of course, it would have been good if we could have stayed an extra day to do it, but, unfortunately, the schedule and the itinerary are both watertight, so it was not possible.
At least we got to see the Fox Glacier a bit yesterday. Even if it was only a bit…the bit that you can walk to. But it was still amazing! Especially to see the ice from the Cave- thingy (check out my expert terminology) crashing down into the River below!
And I also suppose that we haven’t had it as bad as some other people, who have been hanging around for days twiddling their thumbs, waiting for the weather to improve for them.
So, a little under the weather (see what I did there?)hehe, we set off on the 4 hour journey towards Wanaka, (we are so immature and find the name so amusing..) stopping off at Knights Point, and passing 2 absolutely huge lakes: the Hawa, and Wanaka. Fortunately, (and rather annoyingly, due to the non-flight situation!!) the weather everywhere else on the journey was absolutely lovely, glorious Sunshine, so the lakes looked especially lovely glistening away, surrounded by the mountains. We also made a few other spontaneous stops at some random Waterfalls en route (Argh!! More Waterfalls!!) most notably, one where there was a large group of Chinese Tourists admiring the view also…. The view of the rear of Paul’s head, that is!
As lovely as it undoubtably is, I was a wee bit confused as to why they found it so awe inspiring, especially when one man and his son started giggling uncontrollably, and took a picture, too!!
Turns out, that there was a Sandfly sat there on the back, hitching a ride. (And I still don’t get the joke!! And here I was thinking that Waterfalls were the fascinating and awe inspiring works of nature around there….)
We eventually arrived in Wanaka, which turned out to be a rather “surfy” looking place, with scantily clad females strutting around, making the most of the sunshine. I went to Subway, for a little refueling, and was rather impressed to be awarded a free drink, purely for producing my Student ID card! Woohoo!! Us backpackers, we just LOVE a freebee (no matter what it is!!)hehe.( I bet that they do that in England, too now, but I just don’t know about it because it happened after I came away, and you are probably all thinking “erm….so what?”) Although, I did have to pay for it in some ways, as I had to endure the “service” of the mumbling bafoon beind the counter who was attempting to make the thing, and proceeded to put all the things that I asked NOT to have on it, on it!!! Tsssssskkkkkkkk!!!
Anyhow…(calm down Vicky, it was only a Sandwich…)after Mum and Paul had polished off their Fish and Chips, and fed the local Duck population for the next 3 months on the leftovers, we headed off into the Bakery, where we were surprised to be greeted by a very friendly, but rather alarming looking woman who worked there, who had what I thought was a very “unusual” hat on her head, but what she had actually done was put her hair in a big pineapple on top of her head, then braided ribbons and beads into sections of it, attatching it to her scalp, incorporating small toys and decorations into it, too!! The end result was something reminiscent of Medusa, but this description by no means does justice to it! The only other way I can describe it is Easter Bonnet….on acid.
Then, we headed off in the direction of Queenstown, but not before Mum and Paul happened to have the notion that they should pick up a depressed looking man who was hitch hiking on the route, who came complete with his own method of transport in the form of Skateboard (which I didn’t really understand! I was like “Erm…is that just for decoration or something??”) He said that he was trying to get to Dunedin for an operation or something, but he only had a very small backpack with him, so I was highly suspicious of his story. (Maybe it’s just because I can never travel light, and therefore assume that nobody else can?) And, that just made me wander even more what the use of the Skateboard was!!! I had visions of having to use that Skateboard against him, when we discovered that he was in fact a mentalist, on the run for committing a gruesome, horrible murder…..
But, after a few minutes, I worked out that there is no way that he could have ever done anything that interesting, as he was probably one of the most anti-social and drippy people that I have ever come across!! (And I’ve seen a load of them, believe me! Well, that’s probably why he looked so depressed, anyway! I would have been if I was as uninteresting as him!!)
Anyway, he didn’t stay too long, only about 20 minutes (thank god!!), but the experience has deterred Mum from taking charity on young, depressed looking hitch hikers ever again, as I have the impression that she was awfully disappointed at the lack of entertainment that she received in return for her charity, and I actually believe that it may have been the only reason that she did it in the first place!!hehe. (Im not about to complain, though. One potential loon pot is more than enough for me, thankyou very much!! And Im the one who had to sit next to him!)
So…After another hour on the road (these road hours seem to be getting ever shorter, now that we have done so very many of them!) we happened upon a place called the Kawaru Bridge, which is an official “Site of Historical Importance” as wait for it… it is the site of the Worlds very first Bungy Jump! (I thought that only theatres and castles were historical sites of importance…?) So, we felt obliged to watch a few people hurtle themselves off the thing, probably just to say that we’ve been there, which was relatively amusing, but, I don’t think that after watching Pauls’ Bungy Jump, that any for ever after will be quite as amusing as that!
Then, we drove through the Wine Country, a load of lovely Vineyards, before arriving in Queenstown, at our accommodation, “Pinewood” where we have a little room inside a chalet type thing, very nice