Queenstown back to Christchurch

Ok, aparrently it is my turn at the blog. My engineering mind tells me that the most efficient typer should do the blogging. Em types like a 'rat on a cheeto', I, however, am a bit slower. I think she left off as we got off the Routburne track and stayed the night in Queenstown. We ended up renting a car, as it was the cheapest way to see all the sights we wanted on our four-day trip back to Christchurch. After leaving Queenstown we headed to Wanaka, a small town set in the mountains. We hiked a 3 hour hike that took us up a valley to the Rob Roy Glacier. It was a very nice hike, but none of our pictures turned out great, so none are included. We camped along the river at DOC campsite....saving a few $$!!.

The next day we drove to Fox Glacier, one of two glaciers that drop very close to the Tasman see on the West Coast. We hiked to the terminus of the glacier where we sat and watched it melt away...literally. The glacier slides down the valley at the high speed of 1.5 meter/day...10x faster than glaciers in the Alps. It melts even faster, so the glacier is actually retreating up the valley. I am sure the coal we have been burning in our Alpine huts had nothing to do with it...

Fox Glacier


We stayed in a hostel in the coastal town of Hokitika, a small town the had the feel of many towns on the coast of Oregon. It is known as one of the few places where greenstone or jade is found and the town is lined with jewlery shops. Em found a nice jade necklace...one of our few souveniers for NZ.

The next morning we headed to Arthur's Pass where we ate lunch and did a short waterfall hike. It my effort to get a great picture of me in front of the waterfall....I fell in!! Em was there to help by laughing and taking a picture....not included in the blog.

We headed down the pass and stopped to walk through a limestone cave...called "Cave Stream" Cave.....very original and very decsriptive. This short, 1 hr hike was one of the best things we've done. It is very much like the slot canyons of Utah, in a cave form. The water was about waist deep in places.

Entering the cave:


Waterfall:

After camping the night at a free campsite...yeah!...we headed to Christchurch, where we are now. We head to Sydney on the 1st for 4 nights.

Cheers!