The Rest Of The South Island

I've been back home on Long Island for more than a month now, yet the end of my journey remains unresolved here on the blog.  I apologize, but better late than never, right?


After Te Anau I traveled north to Fox and Franz Josef Glaciers.  Three days of waiting out the bad weather payed off when Friday, April 14th proved to be a perfectly sunny day, and Marcus came up from Wanaka to join me on my glacier tour adventure.  The Fox and Franz Josef glaciers are quite unique in that while most glaciers worldwide have been retreating (due to global warming and what have you) these glaciers still advance thanks to the heavy rainfall in the area.  This heavy rainfall also accounts for the existence of the rainforest nearby.  That's right: a rainforest and a glacier cohabitating, crazy.  After getting our gear (coat, wools socks, and crampons!) we set off to begin our glacier walk.  Upon the ice, sporting only a t-shirt and shorts, I took to jumping/climbing through/over ice cliffs/valleys/caves.  After six hours of glacier exploration, just before descending back to the base, our guide found a newly formed ice cave (the glacier moves so much that the face of it changes from week to week), through which I was the first customer to pass.  It was truly an epic experience and one I won't readily forget.

I set out with Marcus the next day (17th), due north in his Subaru Legacy.  We stopped at the Pancake Rocks in Punakaiki, getting there just at high tide, when the waves were at their highest and the splashing and crashing were at their most spectacular.  An unexpected stop along the way was at Buller Gorge, where we walked across New Zealand's longest suspended bridge.  All I have to say is that Indiana Jones and that little kid are baller, cause that shit is scary.  Finally, we arrived in Motueka, a little hippie town where we met up with Petrus (see Rumble In Rotorua) and another backpacker from his hostel, Anat from Israel.  The next day, we drove north with her and her friend Yael to their hostel in Takaka.  At said hostel, we suffered a truly moral dilemma.  A mouse had been caught in a mouse trap while we were making dinner, but instead of killing the mouse swiftly, the trap managed to merely break the mouse's tiny back, leaving it to squeal and writhe in pain.  After quite a bit of deliberation, we decided it was best to put the mouse out of its misery, though we were unsure how to do so.  Being the only one willing to, Marcus chose to drown the mouse.  A truly tragic event that left us feeling quite somber.  So we decided to go to the Mussel Inn (literally the only other establishment in the area) to hear some live music.

At the bar, a young man named Jaime Regan performed, followed by The Eastern, a New Zealand folk/country band that opened for Fleetwood Mac for the New Zealand show on their international tour.  With all the stomping of feet, the occasional "Yee haw", and the inevitable awkward dancers, it was hard not to have a good time, though I found one moment particularly entertaining and worth mentioning.  The lead singer got the crowd to whistle a tune after him during a song (a feat in it of itself).  After about the third round of whistling, out of no where, a random older gentleman in the audience pulled out a flute-like instrument, which he seemed to pull out as swiftly and non-chalantly as Ron Burgandy during his jazz flute performance in Anchorman.  His flute-playing skills were so impressive that the lead singer said, "Wait, wait, wait.  Everyone else stop, no more whistling.  You.  You with the flute.  Just you.  Go."  Needless to say, he rocked out... hard, much to everyone's enjoyment.  All in all, it was quite an interesting night.


After a brief trip to Collingwood (on the Golden Bay) and Wainui Falls, we reached Totranui, part of the Abel Tasman National Park.  We decided to walk this part as we would be kayaking the remainder of the park's coastline the next day.  Besides the beautiful beaches, the crystal clear water, and the stunning sunset, we found two playful seal pups just hanging out on the beach!  They were fun.  You know what else was fun?  My two day kayaking adventure.  We began with a "short" 90 minute tutorial kayaking on the open water, after which we were dropped off via speed boat at the Onetahuti camp.  We set out as soon as we could for Tonga Island in the Marine Reserve, where we found a huge colony of seals, one of whom took a liking to our kayak and followed us around a bit.  That night we set up camp in Anchorage Bay and started a fire to cook our dinner (and to keep warm) with two Aussie girls and a kid from Switzerland.  

We started some beef with a mother who asked us to move our fire because the smoke was getting into her tent.  A couple of things to note here: (1) there were two CLEARLY designated areas for building a campfire, one of which this genius decided to set up her camp next to, (2) she wanted us to MOVE A FIRE.  Later that night, the five of us were still sitting around the campfire when we heard the same woman asking us to stop being so loud because she and her kids were trying to sleep (keep in mind, she was YELLING this from her tent, I think she might have woken up the whole campsite).  Now, I could see why she would be mad if we were drinking beers, being obnoxious and rowdy, shouting obscenities, however, that was not the case.  In fact, we had been discussing various global issues such as our human effect on the environment, which country was best at sustainability, and of course, how much we like Obama.  It was an odd feeling to be yelled at for having an intellectually stimulating conversation, then again, this was the same woman who asked, "Well, can't you move the fire?"

The next day we set out early, as we still had quite a ways to go.  The coast of the Abel Tasman National Park is simply stunning, with jagged edged rocks jutting out into crystal clear blue water, accompanied by golden sandy shores.  It was a magnificent place and I had a fantastic time (and a great workout from all that paddling).  Sadly, Marcus and I parted ways at our next stop in Nelson.  I had completed all I sought out to do on the South Island in the three weeks I spent there and was ready to head back north.  Traveling with Marcus turned out to be quite a treat, even the long car rides, during which we learned much about our differing cultures.  I was also able to save some cash using his tent and sleeping on the side of the road rather than in hostels, which, although cold, was quite nice.