First an apology, the internet connections in Laos are, unfortunately, proving to be infrequent, unreliable and SLOW so uploading photos, especially hi resolution, is not practical so unfortunately these will be limited :-(
S to (just before) Christchurch and then NW to
Hokitika (via Arthurs Pass)
So, South
Island, and I really am fresh out of superlatives trying to describe landscapes
that are too varied to detail and almost too numerous to recall, you’ve heard
it all before from me, so I don t intend to repeat myself, but S Island knocks spots
off N Island, as promised, and no matter how much you see there always seems to
be more ..... it’s staggering
My route,
after leaving Golden Bay, was ..... go on, look it up on a map..... starting in
the top NW corner at Farewell Spit I drove....
SE to
Motueka and then SW to Reefton
This route
took me through the beautiful Bueller Gorge and gave me the opportunity to walk
across the longest swing bridge in NZ at Murchison 110m long. I was also able
to walk along a fault line where land upheaval caused a difference in height of
over 2 metres in a few seconds one night, a reminder of why NZ is sometimes
called the ‘Shakey Isle’
SE to Hanmer
Springs (via Lewis Pass)
There are
only a few recognised trans alpine passes and typically in this one mountains,
lakes and forest flank the roads leading to Hanmer which is a thermal
spring/spa and winter ski resort. It is a real chill out destination with
several good restaurants and boasts a large collection of giant redwoods. If I
am honest the place was a little too commercialised for me but it had a splendid
backdrop of high mountains all around and was not too busy when I was there. A
great bridge spans the river on the way out of Hanmer and jet boats and bungy
jumpers normally congest the place, but river levels are so low that activities
had been suspended, probably explaining why it was quiet.
As a quick
aside I feel I must mention the plight of the farmers as a result of the
drought that has afforded me such great weather, to give you an idea of its
impact I heard on the radio that up to 80,000 head of cattle were being sent to
slaughter ........ a week!!!! This go
some way to explaining the empty fields I mentioned previously, but now the
weather showed signs of changing
One of the
must do’s in S Island is Arthurs Pass, preferably by train. As I had Frank, I would have had to take a return trip on the
train all the way from Graymouth to Christchurch at about $200 so I decided to
drive through it. The day was a little overcast and I thought this was going to
be a disappointment due to the weather having changed, but the clouds were
phenomenal and the dramatic scenery was hugely enhanced by them, it just
appears to be a win win situation here
I eventually
arrived at the coast in Hokitika where the huge pebble beach is completely
strewn with bleached driftwood. Trees dislodged as the winter snow melts are
swept out to sea via the many rivers that only appear with the melt water and
exist as huge pebble scars through the landscape for 11 months of the year, and
are then washed back ashore by the tides.
As with the
other places above I stayed a few nights here and took in the recommended
sights which included a trip to another small swing bridge over the Hokitika
Gorge. The gorge itself is not that spectacular, rather it is the water that
attracts people. Due to the course of the river and the composition of the
river bed rocks it flows over, the water takes on an unusual colour, which can
vary hugely according to the time of day and intensity of the sunlight. It usually
appears creamy due to the high concentration of chalk but can sometimes be a
vibrant turquoise so intense that it leads you to question the validity of some
of the pictures in the local visitors centre but they assure you they are
genuine. Again due to the lack of rainfall the water was certainly different
but not as spectacular as it does get, but a really good walk down and around
the gorge made up for it.
SW to Haast
(via Franz Josef and Fox Glaciers)
A few miles
out of Hokitika I visited a TreeWalk. According to the blurb, they are quite
popular in Australia but this is the first one established in NZ. Essentially
it is a series of interconnected metal walkways and towers set at tree top
level that gives you an unusual perspective of the forest. Situated next to a
lake, which looked stunning, a 180m tower should have afforded a terrific view
of the alps, however, the weather was changing and although the treewalk itself
was fine the views were poor and the direction in which I was headed looked ominous.
For the next
few hours , through some spectacular countryside, the weather was terrible,
this is the area surrounding the two main glaciers Fox and Franz Joseph where I
had intended to spend a couple of days. Although I managed to get to see Fox,
briefly, my plans to take a helicopter trip to land upon them was scuppered and
the forecast for the next few days was not encouraging so I carried on inland .... SE
to Wanaka ....
Fortunately
as I passed through the alps again, the weather did improve and I enjoyed another
dramatic drive along the shores of lakes Wanaker and Huawei leading into the
picturesque town of Wanaker where I stayed for a couple of nights and found a
fantastic Irish pub, that served excellent Guinness, great food and had live
music every night until late. What a chore this travelling is!
My next stop
would be in Dunedin where I intended meeting up with some old mates and base
myself for maybe a week or so giving me the chance to explore the far south and
cut down a bit on the time spent in the car, hopefully
Leaving aside the natural wonders, to give you a quick
overview of the modern history of the Island, I would first ask a question.....
have you ever heard of New Zealand gold?
I hadn’t, but I sure have now and it was by far the biggest influence on
the development of the land over a hundred years or so from the mid 19th
century.
In very basic terms, South Island gold was, and is, mainly
found as deposits in alluvium, the spoil left behind after the glaciers
retreated. In some cases it found itself washed out into the rivers and in
others it became caked in ‘mud’ that often solidified into rock.
The former
was usually discovered by one man panning a river. This would develop a gold
‘rush’, as soon as word got out, and in some instances there were sufficient
successes to warrant industrial size recovery operations that culminated in the
building and deployment of enormous floating river dredgers; the latter,
required blasting it out of open seams with high pressure waterhoses where
possible, or by more conventional mining techniques to obtain the gold bearing
rocks which were then pummelled by huge stamping machines and the precious
deposits washed out of the recovered pulp.
Gold had a phenomenal influence on the country and it seems
that nearly every town in the South Island had a link to it and still retains
the evidence in the, obligatory town museum, and huge amount of rusting hardware,
be that rails, coal carts, water valvesetc, usually assembled under the town
sign, but also found in fields and abandoned workings in all sorts of places
It was the influx of people associated with the several gold
rushes that led to the early population of most of the country, especially the majority
of the west coast, Golden Bay and Otago areas.
A ‘two horse’ town could be transformed into a bustling
commercial centre – or more commonly a mainly lawless drunken camp, full of
saloons and brothels - with 30/ 40 hotels, bars, supply centres etc springing
up in a matter of months upon discovery of gold, as thousands of itinerant
workers, including some from all corners of the world, descended upon it.
But it could also return to its original form as quickly, if
the claims failed to meet expectations, were quickly exhausted or were superseded
by other discoveries whereupon the locust like workforce swarmed after a
fortune at the next prospect.
This boom and bust scenario was repeated countless times all
over the gold producing areas, but as time passed, some disillusioned workers
began to stay behind, clearing land for farms and forming small communities.
Immigrant workers began to colonise the country and along with their customs
and cultures also bought with them, most notably, fruit trees and vines, which
still remain hugely important for the New Zealand economy.
The majority
of the places have not really changed their appearance much since those times
and remind you of what we saw depicted as the typical town on old US westerns,
with single storey shops fronted by covered walkways.
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