doddling around: Christchurch to Franz Josef

Fall Back

It's sort of funny going forward an hour back home, then coming here and going back an hour. We're now even further from home time. When we were planning this trip, we were 3 hours and day off (6 am in CA was 3 am the next day in NZ). When we got here, after turning our clocks forward at home, we were 4 hours and a day off (6 am in CA was 2 am the next day in NZ). Now that NZ has turned back the clocks an hour, we're 5 hours and a day off (6 am in CA is 1 am the next day in NZ). It's more confusing than it should be.

The time change meant we were all set to have wiggle room this morning, for sleeping-in or taking our time packing or hitting the road early. Turns out we didn't get the option to sleep in. Around 6 am, someone started knocking on our door. Persistently. Mike peered through the peephole and said "I think you have the wrong room." He said there was a guy outside holding food, like takeaway breakfast, who suddenly looked super surprised. Our guess is that he made a wrong turn and got the wrong motel. Our motel is almost identical to the one next-door. He probably wanted the corner room of that place. Well, it meant that Mike was up, so we got the day going and wound up on the road shortly after 9.

Driving to Franz Josef

We saw a bunch of these crazy train tractor things!

For a long time the drive was really boring. Flat fields going toward mountains that never seemed to get closer.

Then we were in the mountains, and for another long time it was also really boring.

Some neat rock formations started showing up.

Some lake. Some more mountain.

Road work but with a light instead of a person.

We finally got to Arthur's Pass around 11:30 and had lunch at the Wobbly Kea.

Poutine and Bangers & Mash

Fish & Chips

We got too much food

After the boring part of the drive was over, and we had an overly-filling lunch, we set off again, with no intention to make any stops.

The memorial to Arthur Dudley Dobson

The Otira Gorge Road

The big heavy lunch made us sleepy and we just had to stop to stretch and get coffee, so we stopped in Kumara around 2 pm. It's a town with not much.

Kumara has a general store and some historical plaques.

Kumara was a gold-digging town

We barely made it over an hour when we needed the bathroom and stopped in Harihari. I used the public restroom while Mike got gas. As I was coming out, I saw a busload of Chinese tourists walking right at me. I had my fingers crossed that Mike had finished getting gas and was in the men's room already, until I saw him heading toward me, behind the crowd. Poor Mike!

The bus that got to the restroom before Mike

Harihari's claim to fame is that the first guy to fly across the Tasman Sea crash landed in one of their fields.

Franz Josef Village

We finally made it! The drive was actually quite gorgeous. Sometimes it looked like jungle. It was lush and verdant. The GoPro probably caught good shots of it. I didn't.

The Alpine Glacier Motel is great! The room is huge. I haven't mentioned before that hotel rooms here all seem to have kitchenettes, stocked with pots, pans, dishes, and silverware. Not something we're used to, and we haven't made good use of them yet.

We settled into our room and went for a walk. The town is tiny, but there were lots of people in all the restaurants. We stumbled upon the West Coast Wildlife Centre where they rescue and help the rarest species of kiwi, the Rowi. For the entry fee, we got access to exhibits (about kiwi, the concerns around their survival, glaciers, and the history of wildlife in the region) and to the nocturnal room where the actual kiwi are (no photos allowed).

Unfortunately, all the kiwi had hidden in their burrows. Admission is for 24 hours, so the docent told us to come back in the morning when they lock the kiwi out of their burrows, guaranteeing that we'll see them. Yes, it totally sounds mean, but apparently their reasoning is that these kiwi are new to the habitat and need to learn to get over their shyness and eat, so they're locked out of their burrows for some part of the day.

My nemesis! These jerks turned my legs spotted. Mostly from the night at Mahana Lodge, but a few more since then. I'll post a photo of my sad legs at some point. Maybe a whole series of recovery photos.

We meandered homeward, still full from our lunch, and saw the lovely sunset. The whole town apparently saw it. Everyone we passed was taking photos of it.