The Road South

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Trip Start May 31, 2007 Previous
Entry Trip End Sep 13, 2007 Next
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  Blenheim, New Zealand
Friday, August 31, 2007

With reluctance we left the top of the South and headed for the West Coast, stopping at Murchison on the energetic edge of the Buller River.  Lack of day light and hungry children called for a stop at a campsite that straddled a cemetery and thanks to Jon's ghostly stories - only Jon slept well!

An unplanned stop at the Buller Gorge Swingbridge resulted in a hugely enjoyable morning.  We walked across the longest swingbridge in NZ (always wanted to cross one of these bridges!), and returned on a thrilling 160m tandem flying fox across the Ggorge much to everyone's delight.

A little behind schedule again we joined the West Coast Road South towards Franz Joseph, stopping off at Hokitika ('Hoki' to the locals) beach for lunch. Yet another town with a strong gold mining history, now famous for NZ Green stone artwork.  The further South we travelled, we began to feel the drop in temperature - still bright and sunny but with a deepening chill.  The coast line was more rugged, the bush more lush and dense.   We arrived in the modern town of Franz Joseph late afternoon - thanks to the skillful driving on Jon's part and the very well behaved children most journey's have been stress free (in car entertainmant helps!).  Another picturesque site at the base of Mt Cook, with clear views of the snowcapped peaks..

We woke to breathtaking, soul lifting brilliant blue skies and crisp white peaks. We had limited options to view the glacier's due age restrictions, so we opted for the best we could do - a helicopter flight and landing on the top of the Glacier. As with nearly all our activities we again avoided long queues and this time crowded skies - it was a fantastic experience with superb views of the glaciers only topped by landing on virgin snow neves a mile from the peak of Mt Cook.  Oli was in his element - like all little boys he loves helicopters.. The pilot was great fun and Oli took no time in throwing snowballs at the pilot. 

Our days have been filled with so much adventure and brilliant experiences it is hard to take it all in - we ended the day with a quick dip in the open air hot spa pool, before running back to the camper for a hearty steaming veggie hot pot and a good nights sleep.

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Jon coming up the rear	Swingbridge   Comments!	where road and rail share bridge	fast route back
driftwood on Hoki beach	Hoki beach	Oli on Hoki	mountains
Lake view	tree of lake	pink mountain	Franz
view from chopper	Glacier	on 1000ft of ice!	on Glacier
virgin snow	Oli	Feeling on top of the world	running on top of the world
only another mile to the top	Snow Oli	snow angel	Oli's chopper
more snow	Snow Angel	Snow Jon	Oli in front
Glacier	above the clouds	alphine Hut	Glacier
on top of the world	Blue ice	on board	co-pilot
The pilot	View of Glacier from the ground	sibling love	see Jon is here
leap for joy	dirty ice	Tom tit	Oli
Lake Matheson1	Reflective view	reflection of Mt Cook	so stunning
unbelievable beauty	There is somthing special about snow	on the lake	not so young lovers at the lake
Rugged Tasman coast line	Calm waters	more coast line	on the road to Wanaka
misty mountains	misty mountains 2	lake view	fab view
red moutain

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