The West Coast

On Sunday, we left Nelson and followed the west coast to Greymouth. Nelson is the sunshine capital of NZ, and gets the most days of sun of any other city, so it was very nice and warm when we left, and the weather steadily declined the further we went. The west coast has a rainforest, and gets a lot of rain. By the time we got to Greymouth, it was rainy and stormy. Along the way to Greymouth, we stopped several times to see the coast and take pictures. One of the stops was at the Pancake Rocks, which were pretty cool rocks that are compressed one on top of the other and look like pancakes. We also drove along the part of the coast where movies such as King Kong and Jurassic Park were filmed, because the coast is pretty empty, with no houses.

Greymouth is a really small town, with not a lot to do, and since it was raining, no one wanted to go outside anyway. We took a tour of the Monteith Brewery that night, followed by sampling their beer and wine, and then to a BBQ. It was a fun night, and I hung out with some of the people traveling on the bus.

Monday we left Greymouth and traveled to Franz Josef. Along the way, we stopped at a small town called Ross, which is a gold mining town, and is really really small. We arrived in Franz Josef around noon, so had the afternoon. Franz Josef has a glacier and that's the main attraction in the town. That afternoon, I did a glacier hike, where we got to hike on the glacier. We had to wear really thick water proof boots, and crampons, which are the spikes that go over your boots. It was really cool to be able to walk on the ice, and walk through some of the crevices. The hike they take you on changes regularly, and the guide said the one we did was the best he's ever seen.

September 1st is the first day of spring for New Zealand. It didn't feel like spring today as we travelled from Franz Josef to Queenstown, and it rained pretty much the whole way. We travelled through a lot of really pretty country, and it would have been nicer if it was clear instead of cloudy and rainy, but it was still great. We passed some mountains with snow on them that was the location for the filming of the Lord of the Rings snow scenes. We also passed Lake Wanaka, which is the longest lake in NZ. We arrived in Queenstown this afternoon and I walked around a little, but didn't do much, as I have two full days in Queenstown. Queenstown is the adventure capital of the world, and you can go skydiving, bungy jumping, skiing, anything like that. I don't think I'll be doing any of that, but it's still an exciting town, and the area around it is gorgeous, with snow covered mountains and a lake. It's really cold here though, probably the coldest weather so far, but it is just the end of winter.