The following day we had to say goodbye to Simon and Beata since we had planned for an extra week in New Zealand than they had. We drove them to the airport and then had to find ACE, our car rental company since we were trading our station wagon in for a smaller cheaper car. Though they claimed to be at Christchurch airport they are actually a bit away and after asking around I got directions to them. They are a pain in the ass company, but if you don’t breakdown they are the cheapest in NZ. We opted for no GPS this time since it was not only useless, but caused a lot of expensive agony and stress.

Giant Sand Fly

Then we were off through Arthur’s Pass again. The weather was clear this time from the beginning so we were able to see the gorgeous views that we had missed the first time. We spent the night in Greymouth, where we had planed on going adventure caving the following day.

In the morning, in Arthur’s Pass, Beata and I went on a hike to Bridal Veil Falls, since it was less steep and looked prettier on the picture on the information sign.The boys went to Devil’s Punchbowl.Our track led us up and down and we saw a bunch of small waterfalls along the way and after a while when we thought we had walled too long we ended up on the road.

Most interesting thing I saw on the hike

We were a bit disappointed that we had done the track and hadn’t seen a remarkable waterfall and decided to take the road back to Arthur’s Pass since it would be easier which it was.Once we met back up in the parking lot the boys were very satisfied with their waterfall, so we had probably chosen for the wrong one.In the parking lot and all around Arthur’s pass were a lot of mountain parrots or Keas, and these big birds aren’t afraid of people and sometimes got uncomfortably close, especially when there was food involved.They also liked to chew the rubber around car windows.

flying Kea (Yes, we chased one around to make it fly to get a picture)

The second half of the pass was also very pretty, and we were in Glacier country in no time.As we drove along the windy road without seeing a mountain in sight we wondered how exactly could there be a glacier here.Our plan was to book a tour for Franz Joseph since you cannot walk on it alone because it is too dangerous, and then go to Fox Glacier since you are allowed to walk on it a little bit without a guide.

Arthur’s Pass

We quickly checked ourselves into a cabin at Top 10, and went to the info center.We were very excited since I had never been on a glacier which I remember.I asked the lady to give us some information about the Fox walking trek to which she almost laughed.After she realized we were serious she said that everything is flooded and that Fox is closed and all but 3 walking treks in the whole region were also closed.That was a blow we weren’t expecting and Simon was particularly upset since he was set of seeing the sunrise from Fox.Nevertheless, it was okay since since we could still go on Franz.We asked about a tour.She said the tours were all booked for the next two days.Time-wise we could not afford to chill out in Glacier country for two days and in 1 minute our glacier dreams were shattered.

As soon as we left we decided to get a bottle of Tequila for the night, but before we could drown our disappointments in alcohol we went to at least look at Franz Josef.The glacier itself is pretty far away from the viewing area, so when we saw it, it was rather disappointing as well.Simon couldn’t stand it and decided to walk to the glacier, but there were streams to cross and I didn’t feel like it and I think the others didn’t feel like it either, so Simon went on his own and we had a photo shoot “in front” of the glacier and showed how miserable we were.

Simon took longer than we expected because the walk to the glacier was longer than he had expected and he still couldn’t get to the base of it because there is a raging stream around it.We decided to go to the town of Fox which lies underneath Mr. Cook and do the Lake Matheson Walk. It is famous for its reflecting views of Mt. Cook, but since Mt. Cook was totally covered by clouds we didn’t see a spec of it and the walk was pretty dull.

We managed to have a nice dinner back in Franz Josef at the backpackers’ pub and then had the next quest of finding a liquor store.I asked the lady at the supermarket as we bought breakfast food and a lemon and she sent me to the Franz Josef Hotel.We found it, and it was very posh, but I went in anyway even though I felt like it was the wrong place and asked the hostess.She sent me further down the road to their other branch.Funny how it ended up being right next to the Top 10 we were staying at and was even marked as bottle shop on our map.The boys stayed outside pretending to be mechanics as they listened to the new rumbling noise the rental had started to make, because a broken car was what we needed now.

Beata and I went into the pub/bottle shop and it smelled like stale beer and unwashed people.There was no one behind the bar so I ventured out by the pokies machines where it was mullet heaven and every machine was occupied.At least everyone concentrated too hard to pay attention to me.I went out back and peeped outside to see if there was a server there and all I saw was a group of what looked like retired biker dudes, so I booked it back to the main bar where Beata was and we continued to wait there.Eventually a large butch woman appeared and we got our tequila and ran.

And the rest is history…

It was an early 6:30 start for us the following morning. It was cloudy and while watching National Treasure on the ferry it began to rain. As we approached Picton we passed by the Marlborough Sounds, but it was too cold and rainy to stay outside for long so we couldn’t enjoy the view. We were disappointed since it was supposed to be beautiful and the ferry was like a cruise through the sounds but we didn’t get anything out of it. We had to decide what to do and looked at a brochure map, and the distances were unreal. Places that did not seem that far away the map said 5 hour drive. I couldn’t believe it, but we were in a bit of a panic since we’d have to cut out something from our trip.

Marlborough Sounds

When we arrived to Picton and stopped by the info center, we were given a better map with more believable travel times, so we were a bit relieved but not by much since it was still longer than we expected. Since the weather was so bad and Picton looked like a shabby town we decided to book it to Arthur’s Pass. It was drizzling and cloudy the whole way to Springfield, the beginning of the pass and as we reached the top of the first mountain ridge the sky opened and the sun shown and suddenly Arthur’s Pass was gorgeous and our moods had instantly lifted.  The countryside reminded me of Scotland, and New Zealand is called the Southern Scotland and there are also many Scottish immigrants.

Arthur's Pass

We stayed in a cabin in Arthur’s Pass which also had a Jacuzzi so before a makeshift Thanksgiving dinner without turkey or pumpkin pie went to the Jacuzzi. I couldn’t stay too long because of sand flies which swarmed and bit. They are something like mosquitoes but at least they don’t bite as much but when they do the bites stay for a long time. That was our first encounter with sand flies and unfortunately it wasn’t nearly the last.

Arthur's Pass