NZ Day 6 - Gorges and Glaciers

Friday, 7 April 2017

Another wet night that didn’t bother us in our snug camper van, followed by a beautiful blue sky morning. Our campsite at Goldsborough was surrounded by old gold mining trails and tunnels, so I went for a quick walk while Jon ran and the kids snoozed this morning.


With another big day planned I cajoled the snoozers into get up and going by just after 9, and our first stop was just down the road at some old tunnels which we bumbled through without nearly as many torches as we needed!

 

Then it was onto Hokitika Gorge - which I’d been looking forward to since I saw a photo of it some months ago.  It was a bit out of the way but completely worth the drive - it had (as you can see) unbelievably blue water.

 

 

With two sites visited by noon, we hit the road for a longer drive (2 hours) down to Franz Josef Glacier. The views as we drove were spectacular - snowcapped mountain ranges popped up behind the flat plains. The river water was so clear that I could see every pebble below every bridge we crossed.  

 

We happened across a delightful lake just in time for lunch.


I wasn’t really sure what to expect of the glacier (and the town) when we finally made it but it was pretty cool.  

The Glacier behind us - it's shrunk heaps in the last 10 years..

and again but now we are as close as we can get - 750metres away. 

The walk up to the glacier (or as close as we could get anyway) was quite long so the kids distracted themselves by building some cool cairns along the way..


Zali built a few on the beach yesterday too - she's photographed them all herself..


Now we are at a holiday park in Franz Josef - there was no option of cheap or free overnight parking anywhere nearby. No matter - a hot shower is nice and the town is beautiful - the steep mountains tower over the streets, and the holiday park is surrounded by rainforest.  Nice.

2017List
Cool things Wednesday, 3 May 2017
NZ Day 30 - Long Distance Final Sunday, 30 April 2017
NZ Day 28 - Rest Day 3 (HA!) Friday, 28 April 2017
NZ Day 27 - Long Qualifying 2 Friday, 28 April 2017
NZ Day 26 - Long Qualifying 1 Wednesday, 26 April 2017
NZ Day 25 - Rangitoto Island Tuesday, 25 April 2017
NZ Day 24 - Unexpected Outcomes Tuesday, 25 April 2017
NZ Day 23 - Sprint Qualifying Sunday, 23 April 2017
NZ Day 22 - Goodbye Rotorua, Hello Auckland Sunday, 23 April 2017
NZ Day 21 - Rest Day 2 (HA!) Saturday, 22 April 2017
NZ Day 20 - Rotorua Orienteering & Adrenaline Forest Thursday, 20 April 2017
NZ Day 19 - Rotorua Orienteering Thursday, 20 April 2017
NZ Day 18 - Rest Day (HA!) Tuesday, 18 April 2017
NZ Day 17 - Oceania Middle & Rotorua Tuesday, 18 April 2017
NZ Day 16 - Goodbye South Island Tuesday, 18 April 2017
NZ Day 15 - Milford Sound Saturday, 15 April 2017
Milford Track - Day 4 Saturday, 15 April 2017
Milford Track - Day 3 Saturday, 15 April 2017
Milford Track - Day 2 Saturday, 15 April 2017
Milford Track - Day 1 Saturday, 15 April 2017
NZ Day 9 - Pastries and Packing Saturday, 15 April 2017
NZ Day 8 - Pools and Puzzles Sunday, 9 April 2017
NZ Day 7 - More Glaciers & Amazing Views Sunday, 9 April 2017
NZ Day 6 - Gorges and Glaciers Friday, 7 April 2017
NZ Day 5 - Seals & Rocks Friday, 7 April 2017
NZ Day 4 - Old Ghost Road Wednesday, 5 April 2017
NZ Day 3 - Abel Tasman National Park Tuesday, 4 April 2017
NZ Day 2 - Hot Springs and Long Drives Monday, 3 April 2017
NZ Day 0 & NZ Day 1 Sunday, 2 April 2017
NZ (Planned) Wednesday, 29 March 2017