Chase the Ace

I'm going to try and be pretty comprehensive in this post (wouldn't want to get complacent huh Rich?) and cover the last few days. Before I do, I want mention that on the way to Westport we had lunch in a little town called Otira.
It's an old mining town in the Southern Alps which is pretty unique. It's a quaint, quiet little place with, what we were told, is a typical old style West Coast Pub. This pub is home to Bill and Christine who a few years ago bought the town for $70,000 (that's about 30,000 GBP). When they bought the pub, they didn't realise that the rest of the town (which the mining companies had finished with) came with it. They now own everything there and rent out the houses to holiday makers. I really liked this story, I think I want my own town.

We left Westport pretty early and we have headed further down the coast. We stopped off at a seal sanctuary where we saw (from a fair distance) a load of seals sitting on rocks and just doing their thing. We rode on the bus somemore down some crazy coastal roads. It's a real art getting a 40-odd seater coach round some of those corners, but our driver Jamie seems to be a seasoned pro. We stopped off for lunch at a place called Punakaiki where we saw the Pancake Rocks. I have to be honest I was a little cynical as they looked nothing like pancakes. I felt robbed. They were pretty impressive rocks though so I'll suppose I'll let New Zealand off this one. Apparently they are formed by sucessive layers of silt laying over layers of limestone over time. Fascinating.

This done we headed off to Lake Mahinapua, where some of us decided to go kayaking. Those of you who have seen me kayak, will know that I'm not exactly gifted at it. It was made all the more difficult when we decided to go 2 people in a one person boat because they were heavy to lift and we thought it would be ok. We had a few spills, but after a while my American counterpart and I seemed to have it licked. We took on a serious amount of water, but we only capsised early on. The views were stunning and the lake was fantastic. I didn't bring my camera, so you'll have to trust me. That evening we had an excellent steak dinner and a beach themed night in a pub run by the oldest living publican, a legend called Les. My costume was a bad Hawaiian shirt and goggles. I'm getting lax in my old age.

Today has been pretty much more of the same, a lot of driving and stops at various places of outstanding natural beauty. We visited a Bushman museum where we learned how some crazy nutters used to jump out of helicopters onto running dear so that they could gather them for farming to supply the demand for New Zealand's venison. I shared a possum pie for breakfast, it was ok, kind of like the thigh meat on turkey. I don't think I'll be rushing to order it again however, I was basically eating tree-rat pie.

We are now in a place called Franz Josef, home of the Franz Josef Glacier. It's a giant ice cube that goes all the way down to sea level. It's quite impressive. I don't know all the science yet, but I will find out for you all as I'm sure you want to know. Tomorrow I will be getting suited and booted with ice climbing equipment and will spending the day walking on it (I even get an ice axe!). I'll be here 2 nights so I will try and add some pictures of it tomorrow when I get back.