The next day we backtracked a bit to get to the road we were supposed to take and even further back to the place where we saw a gorgeous waterfall.   It had been dusk when we passed it yesterday, but we went to get a better view this morning.  It looked better in person than on photographs.

Then we headed straight to Stavanger.  We were going there to hike up to the Preacher’s Pulpit but first we wanted to visit the famous sculpture of 3 swords which we had seen featured on so many postcards.  We didn’t know where it was so we swung by the center of town assuming it would be there somewhere.  We had to go into a paying lot and when we got out Hendrik was able to pick up a random wireless signal and start googling on his phone while my mission was to go to the tourist office and ask.  There were a lot of people there, unusually since tourist season was over and all and I had to wait for a long time with a number in hand.  After some time when I felt it had to be my turn, Hendrik called saying he had located the swords.  It was in some sort of park by the side of the road near a lake.  I was quite disappointed thinking the three swords were some sort of ancient stone structure made by Vikings in a mysterious way, when in reality they were a new sculpture made out of metal complete with graffiti.  Anyway we could check it off our list, take a fun picture and move on to something more worthwhile.

Sverd i Fjell - the three swords

That more worthwhile thing would be the Preacher’s Pulpit or Preikestolen a perfectly square cliff edge hanging over Lysefjorden.  It is probably so popular because the hike is not too hard as other hikes in Norway, but it is steep at times.  The worst part is the bits over big boulders where I had to think where to put each foot for each step .  They are large and my legs are short so the big steps I had to make were tiring.  Where the path split we took the green route up since we thought it was easier since it is a bit flatter and lower than the red one, thought the red one seemed to be the more popular option probably because people thought it was more direct.  I’m glad we took the green and it was very pretty as well since it took us around the top of the mountain and the view slowly opened up for us.  We were luck to have a sunny day and the view was spectacular.

View from Preikestolen

Unfortunately, the sun also made it impossible to take spectacular pictures of people on the cliff since it made everyone look like a silhouette.  After taking silhouette pictures of each other and another group of travelers we took some more snaps of the view.  Then Hendrik went up on the red trail first to take a few pics of me on the Preacher’s Pulpit from above. I then joined him for a quick picnic of chips, crackers, preservative laden cheese and cookies.  It was harder to hike down the boulders than up them.  The entire trip took 5 hours, but it was well worth it.

Me on Preikestolen

Since I wanted to do the Kjerag hike to the boulder wedged between two cliffs the next day, we had planned on taking the tourist ferry down along the fjord from Lauvvik to Lysebotn.  Since it was now autumn in Norway at least, it was out of season and not running, which was a shame since it was a nice day and would have been pleasant and I’m sure other tourists would have gone too since Preikestolen was quite crowded.  There was another ferry that went there but you had to book ahead of time and their office was closed and it left a 6:15am which was too early anyway.   We slept in a farmhouse that night.  When we passed by we saw a symbol of a bed and went to ask for one.   The owner was not expecting guests at all but was getting the place ready for a big group the next day.  She hesitated to let us stay in lieu of the preparations but she agreed, which was good since it seemed to be the only place for miles.  It was a nice place with a huge living room and dorm style bedroom but we were the only guests so we only had to share the bathroom with each other.

Our cave adventure began at 8 in the morning so it was another early rise.  We were going adventure caving on the Dragons Blackwater Cave Rafting trip in Greymouth. There were three others on our tour which was nice since it was a small intimate group.  We were supplied with an outfit consisting of a wetsuit, sweater, booties, two pairs of socks, helmet with a light, and galoshes.  Seeing the outfit I knew we wear preparing to be cold.

The hike to the cave was about 40 minutes which took us to the entrance where there were big orange-brown boulders with water rushing past them at the entrance.  It was hard to make my way through the cave being pushed by cold water and trying to find secure footing on slippery boulders.  As we went deeper into the cave natural light disappeared and the only light there left was the light on our helmets.

At one point we had to jump off a waterfall which was about 6 feet tall.  It was scary because when I fell into the water I had trouble resurfacing because of the falling water from the waterfall, but it was adventurous like the tour promised.

Near the end of the cave we were given inner-tubes to float to the end of the cave.  I turned off my light and relaxed on the cave’s lazy river.  All around me were little blue lights which lit up the cave’s ceiling and walls and it was all very tranquil.

rafting

These were glow worms and they made the cave spectacular.  When we were all at the end of the cave we were given hot chocolate and a chocolate bar and gazed at the “starry sky.”

Glow Worms

Then we had to make it back through the cave back to the exit.  Our guide sent us through another path at one point which was extremely claustrophobic, and I had to squeeze through cracks that I was sure I was too big for.  Somehow I squeezed though but I definitely prefer walls to be a bit further away from me.

Squeezing through a hole

Once we were out of the cave we were given the option to go on a “nature’s water slide.”  That was a small stream running down a rather smooth rock surface into a deep pool.  We were given mats to sit on and told to slide down.  We all hesitated because it looked scary and no one wanted to go first and even our guide said he wouldn’t slide so we were a bit skeptical since we didn’t want our holidays to end in a hospital.  Brave Hendrik went first and even though the rock face was smooth there were bumps and dips and Hendrik bounced around like pooping corn.  The rest of us were even more skeptical when we saw how Hendrik bounced, and I didn’t go because of my compressed fractured back and we all walked back down.  Back at the base we relaxed in the hot tub with a beer and muffin.

Watch the video of Hendrik sliding

Then we had to decide what to do next.  We had wanted to visit Able Tasman but in one day we could hardly see any of it.  We needed several days to do some hikes and we didn’t have that.  Since we had an extra day we decided to go back to Franz Joseph Glacier and try to get on a tour again, of course we called ahead this time around and booked ourselves a full day tour.  We had to drive back to Franz Joseph since the tour started early in the morning.  On the way there we stopped at Hokitika, which was a very cute town, for dinner.  We found a nice looking diner and I couldn’t decide what to eat.  I saw “whitebait” sandwich on the menu and I asked the server, who was probably the owner as well, what that was.  To that question the friendly man grew excited and exclaimed, “Whitebait is a delicacy.  You can’t leave New Zealand without trying whitebait.  It costs 60-90 dollars a kilo and the fishing season just ended.”  A woman appeared from the back which appeared to be his wife came and showed me a whitebait patty which was an omelet with lots of tiny white fish in it.  I was put off since I have never liked to eat little fish because they usually tasted very fishy and their bones would crunch in my teeth making chills run up and down my back.  The couple assured me that the bones would not crunch and again told me that I HAD to try it.  So I did and was really surprised at how lovely whitebait was.  It was great, not fishy and I didn’t feel one bone.

We checked into the top 10 at Franz Joseph again and I was very disappointed to find a trampoline at the campsite since it would have been an awesome way to beak some bones during tequila night.  Then we bough food for tomorrow’s adventure and checked the forecast – rain.

I was startled awake at 6:45 AM by the roaring sound of an engine which had just been turned on. I looked out of the tiny peephole window in our room and to my dismay it was pouring. When we looked at the fjords surrounding us waterfalls had formed in every crevice. The cliffs were pin-striped from the waterfalls. Even though it was too uncomfortable to go out on deck that morning the sight was truly something else as the whole landscape had been painted with bubbling white water. The boat went very near one waterfall and our nature guide filled a container with water so we could drink it. Another benefit of the rain was that there were no sand flies in sight.

Doubtful Sound in Mist

By noon we were back on land out of the waterfall wonderland and were on our way to Milford Sounds just to take the postcard picture and see the Homer Tunnel. It continued to rain and the cliffs along the windy road to Milford was again painted with waterfalls. When we arrived in Milford it wasn’t raining anymore and we went for a walk. We noticed about five various tour companies competing for the busloads of tourists who came to Milford. Seeing this and the constant tour boat traffic on the fjord, we knew we had made the right decision by going on a cruise on the Doubtful Sound because we were the only cruise ship on the fjord. The famous Miter Peak was visible from shore so we took lots of pictures.

Miter Peak

As we drove away from Milford the sky cleared, the waterfalls stopped and all around us the sky opened revealing jagged snow covered peaks, so we had to stop and take lots of pictures along the way was well. Then we headed south to Invercargill so we could do the southern route tomorrow.

Finally Sun