Oli Reveals: VII

Another installment of Oli’s round-the-world emails:

To my friends (and the family at a push),

It’s that time again, so I’d like to write about my last 7 days on the south
island of New Zealand….Drove west through the mountains to the west coast
of the island, staying in the sleepy town of Westport for the night, having
the whole hostel/house to ourselves, a welcome sight after 2 days on the
floor. We spent the following day checking out another seal colony at “Cape
Foulwind”, sighting “pancake rocks” (nice blowhole to watch) and then on
into Greymouth. I was told the west coast to be wet, and sure enough, it
rained during our stay in both towns, reminding me of our stay in
Christchurch- c’mon spring!! Did a brewery tour as well as checking out a
load of live bands at a local pub, who were touring together. Had a couple
of really good acts, playing some of my favourite songs, such as Zombie
(Cranberries), Sweet Home Alabama (Lynyrd Skynyrd), Are You Gonna Go My Way
(Lenny Kravitz)…so they were great in my eyes.

The next 3 days were spent further down the coast, away from th flat coastal
plains and into the southern alps, in the form of Franz Josef & Fox
glaciers. The weather was crap for two days, so we had to just chillout at
the hostels and wait for a break- we did attempt a walk, but I got soaked
through in 2 minutes. Our 3rd day in the glacier region was awesome, as I
convinced the other two to join me on a full-day hike onto Fox Glacier, as I
heard the weather would improve. We were driven up to the glacier terminal
in old Bedford buses and saw the huge ice cave that was formed by the river
under-cutting the glacier. We we making our ascent up the valley side and
though the rainforest when we saw a colossal section of the cave roof
collapse and dam the river- 100’s of tonnes of ice crashing down. We saw
this happen 3 times, with our passionate guide saying it’s the most activity
he’s ever seen on a glacier in his whole career. Eventually the river
shifted the ice dam, moving blocks of ice weighing severla tonnes like they
were wood!! It got even better when we shoved our crampons on our boots and
began our actual ascent of the glacier itself, initially climbing ice steps
and then slowing our climb, as our guide had to cut fresh foot holds for us
using an ice pick/axe, as we were negotiating a new route. That’s the
benefit of a full day hike- we could reach further into the glacier. My
crampons made ice hiking as easy as walking on rough granite with shoes,
amazing grip. The landscape was incredible to observe- I was always looking
around at the immense ice field flanked by rock-strewn forested valley
slopes with their cascading waterfalls. I loved how blue the ice looked,
plasma blue as if it was florescent, shining with the white to produce this
big natural mosaque that was so pure to see. The ice pinnicles/ rifts/
caves/ gullies were great to see and navigate through/ around, absorbing me
complely so that all I thought about was the moment. I strayed off the track
a couple of times, taking pics, so got a reputation by the guide, who
naturally knew my name…good or a bad thing?! Very well-humoured. I froze
my arse off when we stopped for lunch 2/3rds of our ascent up, but stayed
warm for the majority of our hike- wearing 3 layers with a nice wind chill
We reached the ice wall around 5pm, signalling the end of our ascent and
the point to take in the mighty view of the glacier we had climbed, before
descenting on our pre-cut route, plus a couple of new sections which had to
be cut. After 7 hours of hiking, 5 of which on the actual glacier, I made a
bad-ass curry for everyone and thought that this was one of the best
experiences of my life.

Out of the cold, we headed further south for 6 hours, stopping in Haast
where I suddenly saw blue skies again (deprived since the Abel Tasman
national park), so it was a great sight to see. The road scenary morphed
from high alpine terrain and their acompanying low-slung green fields with
lush forests to a mediterranean landscape of dry vegetation to the beauiful
colbalt-blue lakes of Wanaka abd Hawea. The lakes were so nice to drive
alongside, as their blueness was offset by the green fields and the backdrpo
of the southern alps. No sign of human life on the lakes, or most of the
road (no change from the rest of NZ!!). After the lakes, we drove through a
french/ north-italian feel landscape of picturesque fields, small
settlements, alpine trees, vineyards and rolling hills that made a perfect
blend for photographs. The sun shining on us since Haast made it look even
prettier- amazing what a bit of sunshine can do!!

Got into Queenstown around early evening, checking into to a hostel, who’s
decorator must’ve been spun out on magic mushrooms and acid- so much random
colour, like someone had put a stick of dynamite in a dulux warehouse.
Spent 3 nights in Queenstown, doing grade 3/4 whitewater rafting down the
shotover river, navigating such rapids as “jaws” and “oh shit”. A lot of
fun, especially hurtling through a 350 metre rock tunnel created by gold
miners. The canyon we were travelling through was impressive to see. Did a
134m bungie jump a couple of hours after that, plunging into the canjon from
a gondola suspended above the canyon i.e. no tower, just a pod in the sky.
Amazing rush felt when I dived off the platform and free-fell towards the
river, just like I remembered my first bungie when I was younger. Got a DVD
and pics, so you’ll have to see! The following day, I did a rock climbing
course with a pro mountaineer for the whole day, as I wanted to learn more
techinal things about climbing and improve my technique. Blessed with
sunshine both days of doing stuff and also met the German couple I
befriended back in Fiji- by arrangement. Great to see them again and
exchange stories!! So, the last week was really active for me- a lot of
beautiful things seen and adrenaline stuff done

Write again with more tales. Hope everyone’s fine. Thank you to all of you
who wrote me an email- I tried to reply to them all!

Cheers,
Oli