Thurs. 10-3-14 Hokitika South Island New Zealand

There’s a chance I might have jinxed us when I stated that I hoped all would go well…… Rhys showed up this morning at 7:00 AM as planned.  I was a bit taken about by his appearance, and then once we got in the van.  My first thought was maybe this is just the driver who is taking us to the Tranz Alpine train – but that was not the case. As we drove to pick up D & D, Rhys proceeded to tell us that his mother had just died so he could not do the first half of the tour.  He told us the guy that usually filled in with him likewise could not do the tour because his mother was ill. He then told us not to worry though because he found a mate that could take us on the tour.  I asked if he was a travel guide to which Rhys responded, “he knows the area very well.”  Now the alarm bells are going off and I realize this is not good. We then go and pick up D & D who had the same facial expression we had upon our greeting.  It dawned on me that the van which is about 30 year old with no rear suspension, presented another issue. One person could sit in the front, two in the middle and one in the way back. The problem with the way back was that Rhys had to fold up half of the seat so the luggage could fit, and the folded seat was then was positioned so that the whole right side of the van was obstructed leaving the passenger only a view to the left side. Rhys told us that  had just bought a new van that he would be bringing with him to pick us up in as soon as the funeral proceedings were finished - OK - something good to look forward to. He dropped us off at the train station where we boarded our Tranz Alpine train that would take us on a scenic ride across the southern Alps to the west coast in to the town of Greymouth. The plan was Rhys would meet us there, then drive us to Hokitika where he would drop us off, then Gavin would pick us up the next morning to continue on with our tour.  The alpine train was breathtaking - The train runs daily between Christchurch and Greymouth. After leaving Christchurch, the train travels through the fertile Canterbury Plains past the Waimakariri River along the Main South Line, to Rolleston. It then turns onto the Midland Line, which passes through the Southern Alps past the spectacular Waimakariri River gorge, via the Otira Tunnel and terminates in Greymouth, on the West Coast.  The trip took about 4 hours.  The first part was perfect, but it started to rain the second half so are viewing was minimized. During the trip the zoom on our camera broke – now this is really bad – trip of a lifetime and no zoom ? Rhys met us in Greymouth as planned. We had planned to go to the pancake rocks and hike around but due to the rain Rhys suggested we skip it.  We drove directly to Hokitika. Ou first business was to buy a new camera. We got a great one but I will not dwell on the fact that when I checked the price on Amazon.com, we could have bought two of the same camera…… We then walked about town, the ate lunch at a local café. Rhys treated us to what he told us was a seasonal local delicacy which was whitebait fish.  The name alone should have been a clue, but we all tried the fish which was served cooked in a small egg like omelette. I will just leave it that I did wonder if Rhys might be trying to poison us so he could skip the tour altogether since we had pre paid…… Rhys then brought us to our hotel, and introduced us to Gavin – we thought OK, not too bad. Rhys then told us that we were not staying at that hotel, but ours was down the road.  He dropped us off a Beauty Feel which is a chain of ecomony hotels. (Actually the chain is called Bella Vista)  the rooms are cinder block walls, and so small that two people can not stand side by side at any part of the room.  Just before Rhys left, he informed that us that there had been a land slide on the road on the west coast that led to the Franz Josef glaciers we were tour.  He said two people had been killed and that there is chance the road will be closed, but probably not. We ate dinner in town, and returned to the BeautyFeel. We are all keeping our fingers crossed that the road is not closed tomorrow… 

Arriving New Zealand !

Jon and Dick and we are off on the Tranz Alpine !

Lots of scenery pics to follow - all along our train route

A rainbow - always a good omen

It started to rain halfway through our trip but it just added to the beauty of the trip

These are called Oreo cows for the obvious reason

Here I am on the open observation car - good for picture taking except for our camera zoom broke so we did more observing than picture taking the second half of the trip

A happy Jon

Dorothy and I

Arrived in Hokitika and promptly went to a camera store so we could buy a new camera and pay twice the price

And we we are at our first Beauty feel hotel

We managed to somehow squeeze all of our luggage in, now how do we walk around ?

Whitebait fish is a seasonal delicacy

We tried the whitebait fish fritter - definitely one of those you only need to try once in your life…..

Dorothy really enjoying Gavin's tales

Fri. 10-4-13 of all places, Fairlie new Zealand (and yes, you have probably never heard of it)

We were up and ready to go, Gavin arrived and promptly informed us that he was afraid by the time we got headed south the road would be closed.  He proposed that we return almost the whole way back to Christchurch, then head south on a road that goes down the center of the island.  He added that we could go to his cousin Marions ! We had no other options so Cousin Marions it was !  The great thing was every time we mentioned we would like to do something, Gavin responded, oh – you can do that at my Cousin Marions……. So off we went back over Arthur’s pass, the Southern Alps and onto Cousing Marions. We made a couple of scenic stops en route, and met several Kiwi birds along the way.  The Kiwis are mountain parrots that are are about the size of our crows, and like our Crows like to steal things.  They are known to try to rip off wipers from cars, tug at rubber moldings, and go into any vehicle with an open door and fly off with whatever they can grab !  We arrived at Cousin Marions about 4:00 PM. She actually was delightful and had tea and scones with fresh cream ready for us. I really enjoyed talking with Marion about various recipes and comparing different cooking ingredients that they use. The boys toured the property with her husband who had a collection of antique cars. We stayed about for an hour, then proceeded on our to motel for the night that Cousin Marion had set us up in.  We arrived and were not happy to learn that we would be sharing a unit with one bathroom at the Aorangi Motel.  When we inquired if there were any individual rooms were told it was school vacation week so all the rooms were booked – how could I have forgotten !  We adjusted our attitudes at a local pub   that night where we actually had a great meal with chips of course ! We head south tomorrow and Gavin is excited to show us the world’s largest Jersey located in Geraldine– can not wait…..

A stormy start to the day on the Hokitika coast as we start our trip to cover the same territory we did yesterday due to the landslide and road closure, but by our trusty van instead of by train.

the Kia bird - these are sneaky little birds that love shiny things, and ripping things off vehicles like rubber molding, windshield wipers, and will go in your vehicle and steal things if you leave it open.

Jon and I at Arthur's Pass

Dick, Dorothy, Jon and I at Arthur's Pass

Dick getting out of the van for another photo pop

The very spacious interior of our luxury van

I am in the back seat - notice the big piece of luggage that is about to fall on me

Gavin kept telling us about a wonderful painting done of him in his youth that he could not wait to show us when we arrive at cousin Marion's, well, here it is…...

Gavin getting the tea ready for us at cousin Marion's house.

Cousin Marion's husband did have an amazing collection of antique cars that the boys enjoyed

Out to dinner at a local pub. As it was still school vacation I made friends with this boy and we played some pool together

D and D in a Lady and the Tramp moment

Dorothy drew the line at the fried banana though...