After we left Queenstown, we stopped over at Arrowtown, a former gold mining town. With only 2,000 residents, this town still boasts its old glory with three golf courses. Houses are expensive and living costs are very high. We visited the Lake District Museum early in the morning.
After the visit to the museum, we made a comfort stop at Jones' Fruits and Orchards. This farm had a lot of fruits in display. In the backyard, the farm had a rose garden.
We made a photo stop at Lake Wanaka, a glacier-made lake. On the way, there were a lot of WW II style airplanes that were participating in the air show at the airport. We saw a lot of spectators on the hill for a free watch.
After a short lunch break at the Town of Makarora, we dropped off some people who signed up to ride Haast River Safari.
In New Zealand, people love to identify themselves with Kiwi and also sheep. At a restaurant, I saw signs that were referred to male and female sheep. I am sure you can tell which one is for males, for females and for both.
As we entered into the west side of the Southern Alpine, the vegetation has changed significantly. After we drove for a while, we picked up the people who took the Haast River Safari and drover for 90 minutes or so to reach Fox Glacier.
When we reached Fox Glacier, it was raining and the helicopter tour to the glacier was cancelled. Well... a bummer. In fact, this small gateway town to Fox Glacier has been suffering from the significantly reduced tourists because the access to the glacier has been closed for a while due to adverse clime conditions and unstable infrastructure. We managed to do the laundry.
The next day, we were heading to Franz Josef Glacier instead of Fox Glacier. Again, all chopper schedule have been cancelled due to rain. The Coach Captain Geoff said that probably we could not see anything due to rain fogs, but we will still visit the place.
However, the heavy rain caused a big tree to slide off to the road which we were supposed to pass. The road was far too narrow for a tour bus to pass although it was okay for most of the vehicles. We had to wait for two and a half hours on the bus until a crane came to move the tree aside. Obviously, we had to make only a quick toilet stop in Franz Joseph Glacier.
We made a comfort stop at Holitika that used to have the largest port in New Zealand with 100+ cafes and bars. Now there are only three left. We stopped over at Greenstone Jade Factory, the original green stone factory. I bought a jade necklace and three jade rings for Kris. Jade is for the 35th anniversary.
Apparently, it takes three and a half hours to drive from the west coast to the east coast. But people challenge to do the 10 hours of running, biking and canoeing for the same distance.
We drove across the mountain and down to Arthur's Pass. This pass was a proposal made by George and Arthur Dobson bothers to connect Christchurch to Hokitika so that Christchurch can take advantage of the gold economy. Hence, Arthur's Pass.
There, we took the Alpine Train (TranzAlpine) to Christchurch. Geoff kept driving the bus to meet us at the train station in Christchurch. Our expectation was probably greater than the actual scenery. We were not too impressed by what we saw from the Alpine train.
We have zigzagged in South Island to return to Christchurch. - Jeffrey
After the visit to the museum, we made a comfort stop at Jones' Fruits and Orchards. This farm had a lot of fruits in display. In the backyard, the farm had a rose garden.
We made a photo stop at Lake Wanaka, a glacier-made lake. On the way, there were a lot of WW II style airplanes that were participating in the air show at the airport. We saw a lot of spectators on the hill for a free watch.
After a short lunch break at the Town of Makarora, we dropped off some people who signed up to ride Haast River Safari.
In New Zealand, people love to identify themselves with Kiwi and also sheep. At a restaurant, I saw signs that were referred to male and female sheep. I am sure you can tell which one is for males, for females and for both.
As we entered into the west side of the Southern Alpine, the vegetation has changed significantly. After we drove for a while, we picked up the people who took the Haast River Safari and drover for 90 minutes or so to reach Fox Glacier.
When we reached Fox Glacier, it was raining and the helicopter tour to the glacier was cancelled. Well... a bummer. In fact, this small gateway town to Fox Glacier has been suffering from the significantly reduced tourists because the access to the glacier has been closed for a while due to adverse clime conditions and unstable infrastructure. We managed to do the laundry.
The next day, we were heading to Franz Josef Glacier instead of Fox Glacier. Again, all chopper schedule have been cancelled due to rain. The Coach Captain Geoff said that probably we could not see anything due to rain fogs, but we will still visit the place.
However, the heavy rain caused a big tree to slide off to the road which we were supposed to pass. The road was far too narrow for a tour bus to pass although it was okay for most of the vehicles. We had to wait for two and a half hours on the bus until a crane came to move the tree aside. Obviously, we had to make only a quick toilet stop in Franz Joseph Glacier.
Apparently, it takes three and a half hours to drive from the west coast to the east coast. But people challenge to do the 10 hours of running, biking and canoeing for the same distance.
We drove across the mountain and down to Arthur's Pass. This pass was a proposal made by George and Arthur Dobson bothers to connect Christchurch to Hokitika so that Christchurch can take advantage of the gold economy. Hence, Arthur's Pass.
There, we took the Alpine Train (TranzAlpine) to Christchurch. Geoff kept driving the bus to meet us at the train station in Christchurch. Our expectation was probably greater than the actual scenery. We were not too impressed by what we saw from the Alpine train.
We have zigzagged in South Island to return to Christchurch. - Jeffrey
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