The Road Goes Ever On

Thursday, February 27, 2014

Charming Creek Walkway

Route #6 took us on north to Westport and then a bit beyond to the Charming Creek Walkway, a pleasant hike into the northwestern South Island bush, up as far as Mangatini Falls. The track is interesting particularly in that it simply follows a 19th century private railway, tracks and all, used first for logging and then later mining, abandoned only in the 1950s. There was more than flora and fauna to see...

Punakaiki Rocks

We drove on from Motukiekie Beach, sticking to route #6, the one road that covers that part of the west coast that is not roadless--maybe half the coast--stopping for the night at a motor camp at Punakaiki. Next day we visited the Punakaiki Rocks, a site we had enjoyed in 2009, but had seen at low tide rather than the recommend high tide.

For those wondering...we tent generally about half the time,
when the weather is fine, and spend the rest mostly in cabins
such as this or in double rooms in hostels; the cabins generally
are only slightly more than tenting; we do sorely miss
our RV, its freedom, familiarity, and flexibility

Anyhow, the Punakaiki Rocks are a small peninsula jutting
out into the Tasman Sea, featuring weird rock formations
(pancake rocks) and blowholes and such

Thus

And thus

Looking south down the coast; note pancake structure

Stack

Alas, even though we were there precisely at high tide,
there were no blowing holes this day; next time...

Looking north

As elsewhere in the bush, cicadas provided most of the
background music

But there was plenty more west coast to see

Motukiekie Beach

Driving north from Hoki, over a hill, we noticed some great-looking sea stacks and such and, looking at our NZ Frenzy guidebook (our constant companion), determined they were just off from Motukiekie Beach, one of the author's many excellent recommendations. At low tide, one can walk out on the beach and get quite near them. So we parked, looked over the tide situation, and waited an hour or so for the water to subside. Then we walked a mile or two along the beach, gawking at it all, from the driftwood and beach pebbles, to the cliffs and waterfalls above, to the pounding surfs, to the sea stacks just beyond reach. One other person was there, initially, a young woman from Vienna, about to start vet school in Edinburgh. Later a fisherman appeared on the rocks. Great New Zealand experience!

Wednesday, February 26, 2014

Hokitika, 2014

You have to love a place that calls itself Hoki, and especially if it is home to the Museum of Sock Manufacturing Machines. Hoki is all this and more, featuring itself as the artsy-fartsy capital of the South Island. Anyhow, we like it, and spent a morning visiting its several shoppes and boutiques before lunch on the beach.

But before Hoki, Okarita, setting for one of New Zealand's
Booker prize winners

Okarita Lagoon

Hokitika town clock

The world famous Hokitika Sock Manufacturing Museum

Thus

Thus, up closer

Larger machines; we bought Penelope some kiwi socks...

In one of the greenstone (jade) workshoppes

In another, looking at a pile of raw material, which they will
not sell...the supply is limited, and this is what the jewelry
comes from...

Old town free library, now town museum

They say it's your second book that determines
whether you'll be a real writer...how about if
your second book wins the Mann Booker and
you're 26 years old; the movie will be shot on
location in Hoki...you heard it first here

Hoki has lots of outdoor sculpture, this being some...sort of

Driftwood sculpture is big here

Thus

Fox Glacier, 2014

There are two glaciers coming down from Mt. Cook and environs to the west coast, the Franz Jozef glacier and the Fox glacier. We spent the night in Fox glacier village, then visited the glacier the next morning. We had visited it before in 2009, and this time were impressed with how much it has skrunk in these five year...completely around a corner of the canyon.