Going To NZ part nine ( Greymouth on to Haast Village)

Hmm.

Leaving Greymouth, We decided to head along the west coast, for the town of Hokitika. The journey was approximately 40 km, and we reached Hokitika around lunchtime. We explored the town, and came across this glassware maker who made these interesting glass ornaments like glass kiwis in various sizes, dolphins etc, all in multi-coloured hues.

My mother, being enthralled by the beauty of the creations bought two glass kiwis, in mother and child form. I was more attentive to a different issue at hand in the shop itself: the glassmaker at work while people could see him create his works from a short distance.

Another shop caught our attention: New Zealand Green jade. Not surprisingly, it's main draw was those famous Maori necklaces which came in various forms: the Hei Matau (fishhook), Koru (spiral shape), Manaia (part bird, man and fish), and double or triple twists (resembling molten glass being twisted into these interesting forms) signifying bondship. Of course, any of these forms could be welded together to provide more interesting forms and enhancing its meaning. The shop also sold many other forms of jewellery and even raw rocks cut in two and polished to expose the jade contained within.

My mother bought a set of jade earings, while I chose a chrome-plated pewter Hei Matau (I told you I was obsessed with the fish hook design) which incidentally incorporated a koru inside it's design.

The journey continued with us goign past Ross, Hari Hari, Whataroa and finally the main draw of the day: Franz Josef Glacier.

A glacier is basically a river of ice which moves very slowly (otherwise it'd be called a avalanche) about 15 cm per day. Along the road towards the glacier were several signs signifying the various points where the glacier had been in 1800, in 1900 and 1950 as we headed towards the glacier. I was simply thrilled to see a glacier (for once).

We reached the small town which offered helicopter rides (simply taking advantage of the tourist draw to offer ridiculous prices) and of course the roads which motorists can take to see the glacier itself.

We took the latter course and came to the carpark where the cars were parked. Apparently, there was a three-hour journey awaiting us to get within ten metres (which we only discovered after we came back). We travelled through forest, and came across this stretch of rocky surface which had been the home of the glacier some thirty years ago, and now reduced to a rock field. There's something about those rocks at the base of glacier: they were a grey colour, but reflected light at a certain angle, and that was good enough reason for me to collect about four to five of those rocks.

We travelled across that rock field (which spanned about 3 km from forest to tip of glacier) excluding my mum, who stopped halfway to rest. So the three of us: Dad, brother and myself travelled to see the huge chunk of ice sticking to the side of the mountain.

The journey away from Franz Josef after getting back to the car involved getting a glimpse of Fox glacier which we were simply too tired to walk to see. We took a snapshot of the ice formation through a break in the trees (whether intentional or no). And continued onto Haast village.

The 100 km-odd journey from Fox glacier to Haast Village allowed us to see the marshlands along the south island's west coast and discover the various names of creeks which filtered mountain water into bigger streams.

Haast village was reached in one-and-a-half hours at about 5pm in the evening, and we settled down to the hotel, and got ourselves some dinner (fish and chips for me, which I finally came to like again after Wanganui), served by a very pretty waitress who kept stealing looks at me (I'm not kidding, especially with my very ugly mug). Trying not to keep her hopes 'dashed', I showed my appreciation of her table service by slipping a whole two-dollar tip under my plate
and finishing every chip on my plate.

The night passed with me desperately trying to keep itch-free due to the dry weather which caused my skin to turn dry and itch in return. It involved a 'ell-lotta moisturising lotion and I learned that bath soap was a very big culprit for the itch (it dries the skin of its moisture).

Cheers,

Crawldaddy