NZ: West Coast, South Island

After Abel Tasman, I rejoined a Stray bus and spent the next 5 days with the same group travelling down the West Coast of the South Island. The scenery was amazing, from rugged coastlines with crashing waves, to waterfalls and beaches to glaciers. This part of New Zealand is very isolated and sparsely populated, so some of our accommodation stops were at random tiny towns with nothing but a pub and a hostel.

The isolated towns and long days of travel allowed me to get to know everyone on the bus, including the driver, fairly well. There were about 18 of us, and we bonded over activities such as dressing up for a costume party at a pub in Barrytown, singing karaoke at Makarora (I sang “Heaven is a Place on Earth“ and “A Hard Days Night“!), and playing card games in Franz Josef.

The highlight of the week, and my trip to New Zealand so far, is by far hiking on the Franz Josef glacier. It was an indescribable experience to be climbing up ice steps, sliding through narrow crevasses where I couldn’t even switch which foot was in front, and looking out over the valley below. My only reference point to anything like this is the Madderhorn ride at Disneyland, so I was half expecting a fake abominable snowman to be around a corner of blue ice, but sadly, he must have been hiding that day.

I hiked halfway up the black line in the middle.

The weather was less than ideal for the all day hike, as it was literally freezing, and pelting down with rain the entire day. We were kitted out with socks, boots, cramp-ons, gloves, hats and waterproof pants and jackets, and despite the fact that I had on 4 layers of shirts including my own rain jacket underneath, I returned to the hostel completely soaked. An hour in the Jacuzzi with a glass of off-dry Riesling sorted me out just fine, and I had a hearty meal of fish and chips at the bar that night.

In the end, we were on the ice for about 5 hours, and we had hiked from 300 meters above sea level to 800 meters. It was 5km from the car park to the base of the climb, so that, on top of climbing up the ice, is probably about 14km or so in total. My legs were shaking towards the end, and the unrelenting rain meant I couldn’t take as many photos as I would have liked. Two fellow climbers in my group of 10 had their cameras ruined by the rain, so about halfway through, I didn’t want to take any more chances.

Now I am in Queenstown, the adventure capital of New Zealand. If you want to jump off of something, out of something, or go fast on any mode of transportation, this is your place. The prices here are higher than in other parts of New Zealand, but they make up for it by having all the activities available and a supposedly amazing nightlife, with over 200 bars and clubs. My nights here have been quiet because I am going wine tasting today and tomorrow I have to be on the bus at 6:30am, but maybe I will have a more active night out when I pass through Queenstown again later next week.

Tomorrow I rejoin my Stray driver, nicknamed Golem, and at least 10 other travellers I know from previous buses plus new people to tour the very south part of the South island. We will be going to Milford Sound, Stewart Island and Dunedin, returning to Queenstown on Tuesday night. I am really looking forward to the next week and I am sad that I will be leaving New Zealand next Sunday morning, but looking forward to having access to a nicer kitchen and not sleeping in a room of 3-7 other people every night!