Anchorage Bay, Abel Tasman
Our sprint around the country continues and we head north to the Abel Tasman National Park. We catch a water taxi from Marahau to the beautiful Anchorage Bay where we are dropped of on the deserted beach for the morning.
Tramping in the Abel Tasman.
After relaxing on the beach for a while we walk a short stretch of the Able Tasman walking trail through the bush to another small bay where we have a picnic and play in the sea.
One of the variable oystercatcher that attacked me.
It was here that I was attacked by a pair of variable oystercatchers, each 30cm tall with a very long, bright orange and sharp-looking beak. They had two chicks and were very territorial, chasing me along the beach and eventually flying at my head causing me to duck for cover !! I attempted to walk passed their ‘territory’ three times Iand each time I had to make a run for cover before admitting defeat.
We walk back to Anchorage Bay where the water taxi picks us up at 13.00 and returned us to the camp site in Marahau. In the afternoon we popped down to Motueka, the local town. The car is smelling very fishy, we can’t work out why.
En route to the Franz Joseph Glacier.
Saturday was a big travel day. We left the campsite at 08.00 and drove and drove and drove through Kahurangi National Park, the Buller Canyon and the Paparoa National Park eventually arriving in Greymouth for lunch. Spectacular scenery along the way on an awesome scale. The fishy smell in the car is getting worse.
Motorway service station (the equivalent of) en route to the Franz Joseph Glacier.
After lunch we then head to the Southern Alps, again through massive landscapes, and were introduced to the unusual New Zealand river crossing arrangement of a single lane bridge catering for traffic in both directions and a railway line. Fortunately I think the trains are infrequent.
Road and rail bridge in the Southern Alps.
We eventually arrive in Franz Josef Glacier village having driven 460km in 7 hours (including breaks), surprisingly we have only seen 13 dead possums (the in-car entertainment is guessing how many dead possums we will see, Ellie won having guessed 14). We also saw 7 sawmills (my parochial personal interest). I may change the in-car game to sawmill-spotting as we are having arguments about whether the ‘road kill’ is a possum or something else.
The source of the fishy smell.
As we unpack the car we discover the source of the fishy smell, Meg has added a crabs claw to her shell collection.
In Franz Joseph we stayed in a cold, slightly damp and rather gloomy bunkhouse for the night. I don’t think many visitors stay a second night.
Helicopter tour of the Southern Alps.
The next day our reason for heading to Franz Joseph takes shape. We have booked a helicopter ‘Grand Tour’ of the Southern Alps. It was not cheap but came highly recommended.
The Franz Joseph glacier.
The 45 min flight took us to the Franz Josef Glacier, Fox’s Glacier and Mount Cook – the highest peak in NZ. The helicopter landed at each destination and we were able stomp around in the snow.
On Mount Cook.
Absolutely awesome scenery on a huge scale and the only option of seeing this part of NZ with kids on tow!! After lunch, the whistle-stop tour continues, we leave Franz Josef and head over the Haast Pass to Lake Hawae. The spectacular scenery continued !!
NewZealandly 