West Coast, Part II

I'm a schmuck for letting this blog get away from what it's best as, a travelogue and photo album. It's amazing how days turn into weeks turn into months when I keep putting off updating. For the good news, I learned that I have a reader that I haven't met in person. Yeah! I could find out if there are more, but the interface on Technorati confuses me to no end.

When I was on the West Coast with Ray, I decided that I had to return. There's a store in Hokitika that I wanted to get Emily's birthday gift from. Also, I wanted a greenstone necklace for myself. So I visited Hokitika and Franz Josef from January 4th until January 7th.

Thursday was spent driving. It's not that far from Christchurch being only a three-hour drive. There was a mix-up on reservations at the backpackers. They had me scheduled for next Thursday. It wasn't too busy so, I was able to get a bed. I drove to Lake Kaniere at the suggestion of the receptionist. It appeared to be a great place to holiday with children. I encountered a boat trailer that had jackknifed on the dirt road around the lake. I didn't think that I was going to be able to pass it, but it was easy with someone directing me. I saw the suspension bridge over the Hokitika River and the Kowhitirangi Incident Memorial.

I spent Friday carving greenstone, pounamu, at Bonz' and Stonz'. I recommend the place. I thought that David and his two Dutch helpers were very good at moving the carving process along. The first photo is me at the grindstone and second is of the finished piece. The spiral has a special name and means something, but I don't recall right now. I think that the necklace turned out well in spite of me rarely doing anything artistic or with my hands.

Late Friday afternoon, I drove to Franz Josef. I stopped by the gold fields in Ross and didn't have time to attempt to fund my holiday with gold panning. I wanted to do the hour walk but didn't want to spend the hour, so I followed the example of the biomath group at the University of Canterbury, and ran it. I did the loop in 24 minutes, which is surprisingly good since I don't jog. I left Ross quickly because I wanted to stop in Pukekura and have possum pie. Yah, Aussies, we eat possums here. Unfortunately, the café was closed, so this adventure would have to wait.

Franz Josef was cloudy and rainy. I hung out with two Brits from Liverpool at the bar close to the YHA. I could barely understand them. I drank a bit, but not as much as I did as when they came through Christchurch last Thursday. One was on a three-month holiday from service in the British Special Forces. He'd been stationed on the border of Afghanistan and Pakistan. That led to interesting conversations.

On Saturday, I hiked the glacier with the Franz Josef Glacier Guides. They packed people on ice. There were 44 people in my group and we were the second of the day. There were also other companies that take people up. It was like the Ice Capades while being rained on. I wasn't too happy with the trip and the third photo is from far up on the glacier.

Driving back to Christchurch on Sunday, I stopped by Greymouth for a caving trip. Spelunking was awesome. The last photo is from the cave. We did a move from Goonies and cannon balled into a pool. We floated on inner tubes in the darkness and watched glowworms on the ceiling. There was a natural water slide outside the cave. It was a flat stone with a stream flowing over it. The guide couldn't demonstrate how to ride the mat down it, because it was too dangerous. I decided I needed to do one thing dangerous and stupid here, so I rode the slide. The key was to keep on my back and there was not way I was sitting up. It was fun. At the guide center, there was a spa and they gave us beer and muffins.

I did have a possum pie on the way back. It was horribly sweet and I haven't dwelled on why this might be.