In our lovely cottage off of Hydrangea Bay, we cooked pancakes in honor of Pancake Rocks for breakfast, and were off down the West Coast. Our first stop today was at Hokitika Gorge, a short jaunt inland for some glacial river viewing. The parking lot was extremely packed, but there were a lot of trailheads from that point, so our short hike was lightly crowded, but pleasant.

Foxgloves at the trailhead. It didn’t take a long walk to see the powdery blue river  rolling down the valley. It’s color is caused by glacial flour, a fine grained material found in glacial runoff. The clay sized particles are suspended in the water for a time until other sources of water dilute the river.

Looks fake doesn’t it? The color is unbelievable. That suspension bridge can only hold six people at a time by the way.. um.

We climbed all over the rocks at the bottom of the gorge.

What a wonderful detour! On our way back to the main road, we stopped by Hokitika (the town) and bought some exquisite nephrite jade jewelry (thanks Dad!) We picnicked quickly on the highway, then continued on the drive to Fox Glacier, Frank Josef Glacier’s lesser known neighbor. Hoping to avoid any and all tour buses, we did not arrive there until 4pm. There was still a tour bus. Oh well. Fox Glacier has retreated substantially since it has been a site for the public, so there was a very steep hike up to see it. It was a fun walk though.

And…. the glacier!

Just kidding. Did I mention that the whole hike there were rockfall warning signs telling hikers not to stop under any circumstances? Oops.

Fox Glacier, with cute ice cave at the bottom. Turns out glaciers, while amazing conceptually, are kind of dirty up close and personal. Looking back on the valley we just walked through though really put into perspective what a lot of ice and time can do.

The mist was descending fast, and the tour bus was approaching the view point so we walked back to the car and continued south to Haast, where we had a one night stay before driving again, this time away from the coast. Checkers did take a brief hooping break though.

*****Written By Laura*****

As you can tell, we cram in a lot on these epic quests across countries, even when we drive between hotels for four hours or more. The result is that one small adventure was overlooked on the day we went to Farewell Spit, and we thought it was too beautiful and unique not to share. After we walked along Farewell Spit and were graced with a sunny day, we sidetracked on the way to Takaka to view the Te Waikorupupu Springs. The spring is huge, and produces 14,000 liters of water per second, enough to fill 40 bathtubs.

This is the walk to the springs, a nice loop through the jungle, lots of green ferns, beeches, and palms all mingling together in the unique New Zealand manner we know and love.

The gravel path slowly turned into a boardwalk as the ground underneath our feet got swampier. The path turned a corner and the springs were in a large clearing, more resembling a lake.

In this photo you can see the burbling spring. There were at least six other springs throughout the water source, but what was really remarkable was the clarity of the water.

And in the parking lot we saw a weka! (Native flightless bird resembling a fat bottomed duck)

The End.

*****Written By Laura*****

Takaka, far north on the west coast of the South Island in Golden Bay. Hippie town! More Yoga pants and dreadlocks than anywhere else in New Zealand! And an interesting theatre…

In the morning, we walked the town a bit, then crossed glorious Southern Alps toward the Tasman Sea.

Our goal was the “Pancake Rocks”, a portion of a National Park on the coast that features bedded limestone that was eroded by the sea.

These were amazing! We arrived shortly after high tide but were still able to hear the thundering crashes and see the high splashes of the waves as they hit the limestone. The rocks are famous for blowholes as well as pancake formations.

The Pancake Rocks reminded me in an odd way of the Giant’s Causeway in Ireland, because of the interaction of interesting geological formations (limestone layers for pancakes and basalt columns for causeway) with powerful ocean waves. A big difference was that at the Causeway, we were allowed to run around on the rocks, climbing every which way, while the Pancake Rocks were far too dangerous for such activity. The pathways sometimes went over places that looked like solid rock, but actually had gaps beneath that went down hundreds of feet.

We stayed that night at a cottage just south of the Pancake Rocks site. Brian took pictures of the moon and Venus!

I thought I heard the thunder of waves at the next high tide in the middle of the night!

*****written by Clare****

Rain! We had hoped to kayak, but rain ruled the morning. Staying near the Golden Bay, we had a lot of options for activities… all of which were outdoors. So we decided to tough it out and head to Farewell Spit, a piece of land that juts into the ocean. 

By the time we starting walking out on the Spit, the rain had become a drizzle. We had stopped at the visitor center, but they had no maps to give us. We figured that since the Spit was so thin, and that you needed a permit to go very far, we could wing it.

There were tons of shells on the beach. Most of them were broken, but we still found plenty to collect.

We turned off the beach and onto a road. We figured we were headed…. somewhere inland, and hopefully we could make a loop out of it. The forest was full of thin, gnarled trees. They soon cleared to reveal grassy hills…

And the other side of the Spit: a second beach!!

That was, by far, the shortest walk from shore to shore I have ever done. I suppose it’s probably the only such walk I have ever done. At this point we wondered if we could turn our tramp into a loop. We weren’t sure: we knew what direction to start up this new beach, but there was no guarantee we could find another path across the land. We decided to retrace our steps. Along the way we ran into a surprise.

A quail family! How incredibly adorable! The little chicks, quaillings perhaps, were tiny. As we walked by on the road, the parents jumped up onto the ledge by the road to get away but most of the quallings could not scramble up that far. They ran about as we apologetically passed them.

I feel like this deserves two pictures. So cute! Anyway, by the time we once again reached the shore, it was nice and sunny.

Umbrellas make for good shade. We went up to the visitors center again and ate at their cafe.

Laura and I got the mysterious L&P, which graces many a menu here.

It was pretty good!

A view of the Spit from the cafe deck. The end of it extends past the edge of this photo. Impressive. Next we drove to the nearby Cape Farewell.

It was a really picturesque day (once the rain let up).

We spotted some seals on the rocks below.

And wandered up the grassy slope aways.

What a day! We are all glad we chanced the morning rain.
*****Written by Checkers*****