Mini-holiday, part 2

Part two of the mini-holiday post.

After ice-climbing we had good pizza and indifferent wine in a Franz Josef bar, and then went back to the place we ate the first night for much better wine. We both slept like logs until the morning, and woke ready for our long drive across to Christchurch (about 5 1/2 hours).

It rained a bit, as it's wont to do on the West Coast, but by the time we were into the mountains it had stopped and was clearing up, and the views were beginning to be spectacular - vast snowy mountains on either side of the road. By Arthur's Pass village (the highest settlement in NZ at about 1000m) it was bright and sunny and gorgeous.



We went for a short walk after lunch to some waterfalls. I'm a sucker for a good waterfall and this was an excellent one, pouring down hundreds of feet. The light was tricky though, so my picture's not great. On the way back, views over to the mountains.





Back in the car, and on down towards the Canterbury plains through the mountains. I felt a bit like I was in Rohan - Mount Sunday/Edoras is further south, but it was the same sort of thing, with rings of mountains around flatter land. It was just amazing. I think it would be even better going the other way actually, but we weren't complaining.



Perhaps because of the views the distance passed quickly, and we got to Christchurch and another nice little backpackers. Gave up trying to decide what to do the next day and decamped to a restaurant, where we sat outside under heaters. I had mussels and Helen had lamb - very Kiwi! After that there was rather a lot of drinking, first in the restaurant and then in the nearby Irish pub.

In the morning we felt like fresh air (!) and exercise, and managed to hire bikes - the place we originally planned to get them from was closed, but judicious use of a phonebook meant we found a guy who drives around Chch with a trailer and delivers bikes to where they're wanted. He sketched out a route for us that would take us to the seaside, and we cycled along the idyllic river Avon (very pretty) to New Brighton. There we watched the surfers for a bit and admired patterns in the sand.



After that, back on the bikes to Sumner, where we ate fish and chips - unfortunately not the greatest, but all right - and sunbathed because it was such a glorious day. The sun was warm, but because it is still winter the sand was cool, an odd feeling.

We had time when we got back to Chch for a quick wander around the botanic garden:



We whiled away the evening in a nice pub before driving to the airport, because I had to come home. I was utterly exhausted, but it really was a great weekend.

A mini-holiday in the South Island

So I got back last night from my mini-holiday, which was both great fun and pretty exhausting. I'm a bit bruised from the ice-climbing, but it was brilliant. I'm going to do two pic posts because as usual I took loads.

My friend Helen arrived on Wednesday, past midnight, and after a catch-up chat we got to sleep in order to get up bright and early on Thursday for our flight to Westport. I still can't work out whose bright idea it was to put an airport in Westport, which is a tiddly little town with one main street at the north end of the West Coast. Helen was a bit nervous to discover we were in a very small plane, but she relaxed once we'd taken off. It was a gorgeous clear day and the views across the South Island were just spectacular - right across the Richmond ranges towards Christchurch and Arthur's Pass National Park. Stunning.

In Westport we had breakfast and waited for the coach, which took us to Greymouth (the rental car places are all in Greymouth, not Westport). It was a fairly short journey and we stopped for 45 minutes at Punakaiki, where can be found the famous Pancake Rocks. They're layered, like a stack of pancakes. The sea comes in with tremendous force, creating blowholes. It's pretty impressive.



Back in the coach, we headed to Greymouth and picked up our car, and got on the road south towards the glaciers. On the way we stopped in Hokitika, where there's not a lot going on but there was a tree on the beach:



By evening we'd checked into our backpackers in Franz Josef - a cute little town. We stayed for the free soup they put on every night and then went for a walk to see glowworms. They were right at the end of a dark forest path, under a boulder and in the trees - we were glad we saw them, because we thought for a moment they weren't there!

Up early again the next day to drive the 25km to Fox Glacier. Fox village is a bit smaller than Franz, and the glacier is accordingly quieter. Plus R&E had recommended the Fox guides. We got equipped with boots and packs and so on, by our two guides - great ratio, two guides to the two of us! The boots were heavy plastic ones designed for the ice, which weighed a ton. Another short drive to the glacier car park and then we had a hike up to the ice proper, as you have to get on to it further up from the terminus because it's too steep where the glacier currently ends. Once at the glacier we donned crampons and harnesses and hats, and set out on to the ice!



Walking on ice is pretty tricky until you get the hang of it; you have to stomp your feet flat down. The guides create paths and steps in the glacier, mainly for the half-day walking trips, and have to keep making new ones because the glacier moves so fast (about 30cm a day) and melts and reforms. You can just see the steps to the left of this picture.



We did some easy climbs to start with on an ice wall - first just with crampons, and then with picks, and then the guides put out a rope and I belayed Helen while she climbed, and then we swapped over. It got easier each time. Tough on all of you though, legs and arms and we both bruised our legs scrambling over overhangs.

We had lunch, and then the guides put ropes out again next to a deep hole in the ice. And I mean deep. And also narrow. Here's me, being lowered into the hole.



And here's the hole, with me in it, though you can't see me!



And me trying to climb out.



The ice was really hard down there though, and I slipped a couple of times - thank heavens for the rope! It was just very difficult getting any sort of grip with crampons or picks.

After that effort Helen had a go, and then the guides practised rescuing her from the same hole. Then we explored some caves and crevasses.

Glacier and ice pics:







More tomorrow, from the journey across Arthur's Pass.

More pictures at Flickr.

Erm, yeah, hi - still here!

I'm doing an awful job at keeping this blog up to date. Never mind.

The past month has been fairly busy due to rowing now being on properly - there's been a race, and a training camp - a choir concert too, and then there's this flu thing going round that I got full whack last week and am still recovering from. No energy, and coughing a lot. Stupid Southern Hemisphere winter.

On Sunday I fulfilled a long-held hope and saw Ian McKellen doing Shakespeare, in the RSC touring production of King Lear. It was every bit as good as I'd imagined it would be. The guy is a genius. He speaks Shakespeare so beautifully, with such understanding. Everyone else was excellent too, and the production (directed by Trevor Nunn) beautifully-staged. So all in all a good night.

Next week my friend Helen from rowing at home, who's currently in Oz, is coming for a mini-holiday. We're going south for ice-climbing and winter fun. :)