|
We woke up at 7 a.m. and pretty much hit the road immediately. It was another gorgeous sunny day. We pulled over and parked the van and walked down to a small beach covered in rocks and driftwood on the Tasman Sea. We sat on a piece of driftwood and ate the last banana chocolate chip muffins until the sand flies started getting the better of us. We determined that we wanted to get a proper breakfast, and maybe then take a quad bike ride in Greymouth.
It seems that there is a lack of breakfast restaurants in NZ. Maybe it's just because we were off-season. Anyway, next thing we knew, we were in Greymouth and we ran into On Yer Bike quad bike trails, and their Gumboot Cafe. This was perfect; we'd eat a nice breakfast and then go on the quad bikes. We talked to Blair and scheduled a ride with him. He rang a bell to "get the breakfast lady." Like a lot of NZ small businesses, this was run by a family. So a few minutes later, a woman with wet hair appeared and happily offered us breakfast. We ordered the breakfast panini (containing a fried egg, hash brown, bacon, and marmalade). Craig got coffee and I got a hot chocolate with two fruity marshmallows the size of a quarter. After we finished breakfast, they began suiting us up for our ride. We were given heavy-duty rain pants and a rain jacket. We also got gumboots and helmets. While we were suiting up, another couple arrived. They were newlyweds from England named Matt and Sarah. They suited up as well, and Blair got us settled on our Suzuki Ozark quad bikes. He gave us instructions and then set us loose on the practice course, which included some hills, corners, and puddles. Craig used to drive a dirt bike and a motorcycle, but I had never driven anything like that. At first I was rather tentative but I soon got the hang of it. Once we were sufficiently comfortable, Blair led us along a track. We drove by some sheep and then ended up on trails which at some points were covered in about a meter of water. We sloshed through the mud, climbing some large hills to come down the other side and splash in a huge puddle. I gained confidence as we went on, and the second time I got my bike stuck, I was able to free it myself by bouncing it and grabbing traction when it was spinning its wheels in the mud. Soon I determined that a craving for speed and mud is inherent to the human condition, and I was zooming and splashing with the rest of the group. Partway through the ride, we stopped in a nice pasture and Blair broke out the tea and mud cake. These Kiwis do take teatime seriously! We had a quick rest and then it was back on our bikes. We rode through a river at the end of the ride in order to dislodge some mud from the bikes. The depth of the water we were able to traverse was incredible. Riding the bikes was certainly a rush. At 12:30, we were through (2.5 hour ride). Back at the office we bought sodas and chatted with Matt and Sarah for a while. They were telling us that they had been on a helihike at Franz Josef Glacier, and that they highly recommended it. They said that it was a difficult hike and they needed to hop over crevasses. They said that one woman fell into water six feet deep at the beginning of the hike, and then had to hike wet and cold until the end. This started seeming like an urban legend. We weren't going to be helihiking at Franz Josef, but was had signed up for an all day glacier hike at Fox Glacier. The brochure says your fitness should be above average. I started to get a bit nervous. Oh well, time would tell. We drove through the center of Greymouth and continued on to Hokitika. What a great town it was! There were a lot of shops, bakeries, etc. We parked the van and wandered into a store which sold wooden souvenirs. It was a great shop. Wonderful workmanship, and reasonable prices. It was called the House of Wood. One entire wall was made out of flat river stones hot-glued on top of one another, forming cubbies and shelves to showcase items. Looks like something they could do to make a nature-lover's room on "Trading Spaces". We bought some Maori woodcarvings, a jadestone tiki necklace, and a bunch of presents for our families. I was quite pleased that we managed to find so many nice things in one place. It was yet another beautiful sunny day, and we wandered around town. We stopped at a camera shop to see if they had an extra proprietary battery for our digital camera (it was supposed to be released sometime in April). So far, with the camper van and powered camping sites, we had been able to use our adapter to recharge the battery every couple days. But who knew what lay ahead, and the digital camera seemed to be working out very well. The woman in the camera store said that they didn't have the battery, and suggested that we try across the street. That place could order one, but we'd be leaving town tonight. Craig was just kind of thinking out loud and said, "Well, maybe I'll call a place in Queenstown and see if maybe they can order one..." The clerk was super helpful and took this idea and ran with it. She called a (non-affiliated) camera store in Queenstown and asked the woman there if they could special order a battery and have it by Tuesday, when we reached Queenstown. They said no problem. Craig and I were just blown away at how helpful and polite everyone was. We stopped at a bakery and bought muffins and a loaf of banana bread. We toyed with the idea of eating supper in town, but we were there at the awkward time after lunch and before dinner, and noone was really serving. So we decided to press on to Franz Josef Glacier. Along the way we stopped at Lake Ianthe, a placid scenic lake which had restrooms, a dock, and a couple small campsites. It looked beautiful, and we were tempted to stay. But we continued on to Franz Josef. We checked into a motor camp and then drove 4 km so that we would be able to at least view this glacier from a distance while it was still light. We stopped in the parking lot and viewed it from afar. We ate dinner at a restaurant in the center of town called The Landing. Craig had a Speight's Old dark and I had vodka and orange juice. We were given a huge loaf of bread with garlic butter as a starter. I got kumara and mushroom curry, and Craig had a beef fillet with peppercorn gravy, potatoes, and salad. For dessert I had a pavlova and hard cider, and Craig got a Steinlager. After dinner, we returned to the motor park, showered, and headed over to the onsite Baa Bar. It was happening! I wrote in the journal and Craig filled out postcards while we watched the scene. I drank a Raspberry Kristov Vodka Cruiser and Craig had a Monteith's Black. The jukebox blared a surreal collection of tunes: Violent Femmes' "Blister in the Sun", Kenny Rogers' "The Gambler", and everything in between. A bloke from Bristol, UK, noticed our postcards and struck up a conversation. We had a nice chat with him and some of his friends. A girl was celebrating her 21st birthday with a large group of friends. At the stroke of midnight, she started dancing on a table and the bartebders started serving her. We were about to leave when Sandy, an Indian girl from the UK, came over and sat with us. We had a very interesting conversation with her about the world political situation, and how we believe (as she does) that there would be a lot fewer problems in the world if more people traveled to other cultures and really made the effort to understand one another. I think it was 1:30 when we finally headed back to the camper van and went to sleep. |
 Breakfast by the Tasman Sea  Steph on the quad bike  Craig, Sarah, and Matt on the quad bikes  Hokitika  Lake Ianthe en route to Franz Josef Glacier  Franz Josef Glacier 
|
|
 |
|
 |
