Haasta la vista!

Here's an update on our trip over the Haast Pass to Westland, the final 'corner' of NZ that we'll have the chance to explore this trip. The weather on Thursday was really only good for a travelling day--gloomy and drizzly! Nevertheless, the mountains of the pass were still spectacular.



The difference between the western side of the Southern Alps and the eastern side is startling. On this side, all the moisture from the ocean winds is dropped on the slopes, creating a lush rainforest. Every possible ecological niche from the lowest mosses to the highest treetops sems to have been filled, and some of the trees are quite Ent-like! The roads are lined with almost impenatrable greenness, punctuated by roaring waterfalls, and crossed by creeks about every ten feet. All the creeks are named, and it was a source of amusement during our long drive to note the prosaic (Rocky Creek, Mountain Creek), the sublime (Flowery Scent Creek) and the ridiculous (Roaring Billy, Windbag Creek).

We stopped at a hotel in Haast Beach for lunch, where we found these parked--Frank seems to be able to sniff out unusual cars from a hundred miles away!

The clouds and mist made the landscape very dramatic, but it was a challenging drive over the pass in the rains, so we opted to stop at Franz Josef for the night before continuing up the coast to our cottage near Westport the next day. The Alpine Glacier Motel was fabulous, with a full kitchenette, free DVDs, king sized bed and, best of all, an enormous spa bath like the kind you see advertised in the ads for the Poconos--heaven!--and all for a mere $110 NZ a night. We had a wonderful night's sleep and awoke to clear skies and this view.

We wimped out on trekking up to see the Franz Josef Glacier (what do Canadians need to see a big field of ice and snow for??), contenting ourselves with purchasing postcards, and continued north. More gorgeous rainforest and coastal scenery (including this incredible hanging rock), and we arrived in the tiny village of Hector, 30 k north of Westport, just in time to catch the sunset over the beach before finding our new home for the next week.

This cottage is a real pleasure, with a fireplace, stereo, videos, magazines, books, a lovely garden, and a washer and dryer--hurrah! The beach is a two minute walk along a grassy path. Frank also found an outdoor tap and hose, and took advantage of the opportunity to give the ol' Duchess a much-needed wash in preparation for her imminent sale.

Saturday (May 13th) was my fiftieth birthday (thanks to all who emailed me birthday greetings), and I spent it reading, walking the beach, sunbathing on the spacious deck (it got to 17 celsius here that day; remember this is NZ's equivalent to our November!), and painting--not a bad way to spend a birthday! The weather Saturday was very changeable, as these shots show--we had NZ's famous "all four seasons in one day." However, a big change came on Sunday, when we had cold and wet. Never mind, we are content to stay inside our cozy cottage and enjoy our last week on the South Island (P.S. today is warm and sunny again--hurrah!).