We had a beautiful hike today up to the Rob Roy Glacier.  The road in had us fording five streams and we went over nine cattle guards – the steel guards on the road that keep cattle and sheep from escaping from their field.  Well, they almost worked.

Not your father's Ford. Look out for the stream!

We're used to the sheep being behind the fence. Not necessarily here.

So, we went to the Rob Roy Glacier today.  You can partly see why it was called the Rob Roy.  This spot has a strong resemblance to Scotland.  It’s so beautiful, yet still untouched. You drive something like 50 km on a dirt road through range/farmland with sheep, cows, wheat and such.  After an hour or so you finally get to the end of the road.  That’s the hint that it’s time to hike.  Then it’s about a 2 hour hike up to the glacier where the view is just breathtaking.  We even witnessed an avalanche!  We were eating lunch and heard an explosion!  Since the sky was clouding over the first thought was thunder, but a quick look up the valley and we could see where a part of the glacier broke off and was thundering down the mountain.  Very humbling.

The only problem is the glacier is so big and so grand, it’s almost impossible to capture on camera – but here’s the best we could do.

Starting our hike among the cows...

Glacier fed river...

Moss on the rocks on the hike in....

View of the glacier...

Close up of the glacier...

Ann of the mountains...

Glacier Waterfalls...

Alpine flower...

So…rain tonight.  We’re spending tomorrow (rain) walking around the town or Wanaka.  Then onward to TeAanu where we’ll stage for our Doubtful Sound boat trip scheduled for Sunday.  We planned it for clear weather but it looks like we might have some rain.  We’ll see.

(By Ann)

Today we hiked the Hooker Valley Trail at Mt. Cook. Wow!

But before we leave Twizel (The Fizzel) we need to share the one highlight of Twizel. The Salmon pizza at Shawty’s was absolutely the best pizza ever! Okay, enough on Twizel.  Don’t go there.

Today we got up close and personal with Mt. Cook. What a fabulous hike! Mt Cook is the tallest mountain in New Zealand. The star of the Southern Alps! We felt like we were in Switzerland on a warm day. It was such a treat!

Approaching the trail head in the morning.

I saw a sign outside a restaurant in Nelson that said, “Nothing we can write in chalk on this board can do justice to our food.” Well, nothing I can say can accurately describe our hike. Other than it took longer than we thought it would, but then I guess that gets back to this blog title…lots and lots of pictures were taken and that takes time! Thank God for digital cameras. There is no way we could have carried enough film!

As I hiked this glorious trail I tried to come up with the perfect adjective…glorific! Fantabulous! None of them do it justice so the pictures will have to do the trick!

Mt Cook in the background.

The valley on the way in.

We took so many shots it was hard to decide what to include. In this case, note the grey water-this time of the year the glacier is melting and sending heavy silt down stream.

More of the grey river, but a beauteous day!

One of the huts on the mountain.

The Mountaineer...

...and Bob.

We are now in Wanaka (rhymes with Hanukkah). It is lovely. We drove through a gorgeous mountain pass to get here. Wanaka has an airplane museum, Puzzleworld and aspens. I think we are going to like it here!

Today we continued our mountain travels.  We headed out of Geraldine to Lake Tekapo. There’s some beautiful country in between, although it was very cloudy most of the way. Fortunately there is a mountain range just north of Tekapo that magically (as you’ll see) blocked the clouds.  They tried all day to go over and in through the pass, but didn’t make it.  That left our day hiking at Tekapo and then heading to our ultimate destination at Twizel nothing but blue skies!

Some of the country we drove through.

We had a lovely hike up to the observatory at Tekapo. Yes, observatory. They put those on the top of really tall mountains. Ann is trying to kill me-it was three hours straight uphill-but with beautiful views of the lake.

Our lunch spot. Just stunning!

View from the summit.

One of the passes in the background. You can just see where the clouds are stacking up on the other side.

After our hike up (and down) the mountain, we continued on our way to Twizel (pronounced “Twyzel”, but it maybe should more accurately rhyme with “fizzle”-not too exciting a place).  Coming around a curve we suddenly saw Mt. Cook.  Grand!  It is a hugely majestic mountain and we’re looking forward to visiting and hiking there tomorrow.

Mt Cook in the distance at the far end of Lake Pukaki.

Ann getting acquainted with Mt. Cook (which in this picture is still 80 km in the distance).

So, tomorrow we drive to the base of Mt. Cook some 80 km away.  We’ll hope for another clear day.

A word on the town of Twizel for those who might follow in our footsteps.  It’s an OK place to stage for further adventure, i.e. Mt. Cook, but don’t expect much.  Our hostel (“High Country Lodge”) and the town in general rate about a “1” on a scale of 1-10 for charm. There is literally none here.  It’s a clean room, but more a barracks than a lodge.  Oh well, we’re been so lucky this far we really can’t complain.  Oops, we just did!    😉

OK, how do we bring all this together?  We didn’t have any internets yesterday so are going to have to combine a few days into one.

We started with an all day knife making class which was unique and amazing, but I’ll leave that to the end.

In the mean time-after the knife making we made our way to a fantastic eco-lodge named Beaconstone in Charleston on the west coast of NZ.  Long story on how we (Ann) found it, but it turned out fantastic.  For “hostel prices” we had a spectacular private cabin overlooking a river valley near the coast.  The best part about the place was the other people who were there.  Swiss, German, Scots and a Brit woman who was biking around the South Island on her own.  We all hung out in the common room and talked into the night.  Really fun and the big advantage of the “hostel circuit” over a simple motel (besides the price-which is about half or less).

Arrival at the eco-lodge, complete with rainbow.

Charisma time at the Beaconstone

Along with some blustery, rainy weather, we left Beaconstone and heading over the alpine pass toward the interior-getting away from the coast for the first time of this trip.

Between squalls leaving the coast...

A stormy night made from some dramatic surf action...

This one's for you Cliff McAuliffe. Kiwis have great road signs including this one to mark a railroad track hazard for bikes.

For Kelly Johnson-we just caught this one for Kelly's Creek while trying to capture the "one way" sign they use on narrow bridges.

We followed the rain (or did it follow us) over Arthur’s Pass, an alpine pass on the way from Greymouth to Christchurch.  We’re staying the night at the summit of the pass, once again in a hostel.  This time we’re in a small three bedroom house with two other couples-Kiwis and Germans.  And again, they are about our age and we’ve spent the evening having a delightful talk about…everything…all in front of the wood burning stove that is cranking out the BTU’s and drying out everything from socks to shirts to underwear from our respective hikes in the rainy, windy mountains today.  But despite the rain and wind, the hikes have bee spectacular!  What beauty!

The alpine parrot called Kea. This guy can be vicious but is also a bit of a pest and was almost wiped out by sheep farmers because they kill sheep!

The beginning of our very lovely hike in the rain.

Such pretty country...

Just above us was the glacier...but hard to see in the clouds.

We planned to have some rain, so brought the right gear so we could enjoy the day instead of worry about the cold/rain.

So…about that knife making.  I happened to see a brochure about a place on our route where you could learn to make a knife.  Anyone who knows me, knows that’s all I needed to hear.  We were booked.  It turned out to be really fun!  An all day course, you start with a piece of carbon steel 2 inches wide and 15 inches long and after heating it in a forge, banging the red hot metal on an anvil, grinding it, drilling it, adding brass and wood for the handle and then a lot of finishing, voila-you have a very good looking (and sharp) custom made knife.  And as we’ve found with most other things we’ve done, the most fun was the people who taught the class and they others in it.  Fantastic!

You start by heating up your piece of steel in the forge.

Then you beat the crap out of it on the anvil. It kinda starts looking like...a lump of metal after this-but it gets better.

Ann with our very patient instructor and master knife maker at about the halfway point.

...Progress...

The final product. I can report they are very sharp and people who have seen them are very impressed!

Our multi-national group of custom made knife owning maniacs. It's a bit amazing no one got hurt!

That’s our new word for New Zealand.  Beautiful combined with Glorious!  So much fun.

We’re presently on the West Coast down from Nelson just north of a town called Punakaiki.  It’s so small you can drive past it in about 10 seconds.  We’re staying at a backpacker’s lodge called Te Nikau.  It’s a special place, but our “cabin” goes beyond special.  We’re in a tent-like cabin with a glass ceiling that lets us see the stars at night.  Last night we could see the Southern Cross and were awakened by the moon coming overhead around 1AM.  Glorious!

Our "cabin".

Inside the cabin. Just enough room to sit up in bed. Candles are on the wall.

Did I say there is no electricity anywhere near our cabin?  We have candles and that’s it.  Makes going to the bathroom (about 100 meters away down the trail an adventure (just ask Ann).

Try this at night. No lights. Just a headlamp.

This being right on the coast, the beach is just a ten minute walk down the trail.

Not a bad view...

Today we went for a tour of Hokitika Gorge.  Very beautiful.

One of the rivers that dump into the Hokitika Gorge

Suspension bridge over the gorge. The turquoise water is from glacial melt-silt coming down river.

Ann on the bridge chatting up a couple of Swiss guys...

Tomorrow more touring and then Saturday we’re going to spend the day Knife making!  Yup, there’s a guy here who does an all day class and at the end of the day you end up with a custom made Kiwi knife.  Great moment and we thought it would be fun.  We have our “tent” for two nights, but needed one more.  No worries (as they say here), the owner is giving us here home as she’s going to be gone on Friday night.  Just. Wow.

So…we’re here and working our way south.  Thus far, lots of fun!

After Picton we headed just a little way south and west to Anakiwa along the Queen Charlotte Track.  We spent a nice night at the Anakiwa Lodge and went for a little hike the next day.  Well, actually not so little.  Ended up we walked 16 miles!!  Yipes, did we ever feel that.  The worst part was that the ice cream vendor was closed when we got back to the trailhead after 8 hours of hiking.

8:30 AM starting past the Outward Bound school at Anawika. Maybe that should have been a hint...

View of the hike on the way outbound in the morning...

On the way back in the afternoon. Stunning. You can see why the fern is the national plant.

After our grueling day hiking, we dragged our blistered feet 45 minutes southish along highway 6 to Havelock for a nice evening at Bluemoon Lodge, a backpackers lodge.  Rustic, but we had a shower (much needed) and laundry machines (also much needed).  Dinner was at the Mussel Pot-a well known spot featuring New Zealand Green Lipped Mussels.

Today, we went another hour or so south to Nelson.  Nelson is a nice little city and is really the final gateway for us to the real South Island.  From here south should for the most part recede into small towns and mostly wilderness travel.  We had a great time in Nelson though.  Fantastic lodging at the Almond House-a backpackers lodge, but we have a private room-for all of $60 US.  Great time.  And…Nelson is known for it’s local brewing so we made sure to stop at a local brew pub to sample their wares.

We made sure to sample most of the beers in the house along with a delicious pizza! These are Ann's samples.

After lunch we walked up the the “Center of New Zealand”  A bit of a pretentious sounding name, but apparently the spot is actually (more or less) the geographical center of the entire country.  Well, we had to do that one even though it is a bit of a grueling hike straight uphill.  Nice views of the surrounding countryside however.

Center of the world, er, um, New Zealand!

Made it!

And one last “photo comment” by Ann

OK, I'll have to stay one step ahead of that one!

So…tomorrow-Punakaiki!  (hint, west coast, north of Greymouth)

See you then!

Yay, we made it!

Our Ferry. Note the cars on the deck for perspective.

Entering the bowels of the ship...

Leaving the North Island behind...

The Ferry ride from north to south was about 4 hours.  Conditions were smooth and easy.  I bought Ann a deck of cards on the ship for Valentine’s day and let her win a game of “golf” on the trip over (OK, I also bought her a carved necklace in Picton where we are now).

We’re staying in another hostel.  This one is decidedly younger.  We’re easily the oldest folks here by about 30 years, but everyone’s really nice other than the fact that all the residents are the age of our children!

This life size chess set is right outside our room.

Last night we met up with Mark and Anne from Blue Rodeo who have been touring the South Island for the past month and are on their way back north.  We had a great time catching up over cocktails (they served us their new boat drink, the “Blue Rodeo”) and then dinner.

Today, we planned to do a quick “foot tour” of Picton and the go for a hike.  On our way to the trail head we stopped at a toilet and who should come out but…Mark and Anne!  They also planned a hike today, so we joined forces and had a delightful day hiking out to the “Snout”.  A long story about the name, but it’s thought to originate from a Mauri story about a worm….well, never mind, it’s hard to explain.  Anyway, we had a great five or so hour hike followed by ICE CREAM!  Thanks Mark and Anne for the great day-they are on the Ferry by now heading back up to the North Island.  So fun to continue to run into folks we met as far back as Mexico three years ago!

At the apex of the hike with Mark and Anne of Blue Rodeo

View from the "Snout" at the apex of a five hour hike.

Tomorrow we’ve moving southward to Anakiwa where Ann has planned some kayaking.

Yup, that’s right.  Nice place.  Good coffee.

Not easy to get here...Long drive south.

Clean bathrooms too.  Maybe someday world peace as well!

And, onward south past the high plains of Tongariro we go…

Beautiful high plains of Tongariro

After six hours of driving south across the north island today, we’re staged within an hour of Wellington in a little town called Paraparaumu (go ahead and try to pronounce it-Ann did and the lady said, “Well, that’s one way to say it”).

We’re staying at a “Youth” hostel called Barnacles Seaside Inn.  When Ann told the proprietress that this was our first “youth” hostel she informed us, “Our clients these days are between the ages of 40 and 80”.   Hmmm.  Where are the “youth”?  Anyway, a good deal to keep the costs down.  For about $68 US, we get a room.  The bathroom is down the hall and the kitchen is downstairs.

Tomorrow we’ll get on the ferry across the Cook Strait from Wellington to Picton where our South Island road trip officially begins.

Our friends Mark and Anne from Blue Rodeo are just finishing their trip round the South Island and we’re going to meet up for dinner Friday night in Picton as they stage to go back across to the north.  Turns out we’re staying about a 15 minute walk from each other.  We’re looking forward to catching up and picking their brains for the best way to see the South Island.