Up the west coast

At the end of our three night, and longest, stay of the trip, we were ready to move on. As we mentioned yesterday, Easter is a huge holiday here, so everyone is travelling for the weekend. Queenstown was a bit of a madhouse yesterday, and even Franz Josef (the little town we’re staying in for the next couple of nights) is really busy!

Just outside of Queenstown is a neat area called the Kawarau Gorge, which has a suspension bridge crossing it, aptly named the Kawarau Suspension Bridge.  A famous bungee spot is located on the bridge, but we weren’t able to see anyone jumping because it was too early when we arrived. The view of the gorge was what I wanted to see most anyway. I had researched it at home before the trip and Grant found out that it was a filming spot for LOTR. It is the setting that was digitally animated with the Pillars of the Kings (Argonath) on the Anduin River. In reality, it is the Kawarau River. We drove up a one lane dirt road for 2km in order to get a good view. It was actually very beautiful and it’s neat to see the landscape that was filmed in the movies.

Kawarau Gorge from the top of the dirt road

About an hour down the road, we stopped at Puzzling World, which is a museum on sorts that contains a giant maze and a gallery area with puzzles and mind tricks. The maze was very confusing, but we conquered it by the end. At first, we were not too impressed with the gallery, but then came across some really neat exhibits. There was a room that was much larger on one side than the other, which gave the appearance of being very small one side and very large on the other. There was also an area with a slanted floor, which allowed for some cool mind tricks. The best one was a seat that could roll up and down a track. Because of the angle of the floor, you could sit on the seat and roll what appeared to be uphill. In reality, you were rolling downhill, but the angle of the floor made it seem like you were rolling uphill. Crazy, huh?!

Puzzling World

Driving today was both beautiful and scary. We were winding up and down mountains with no shoulder all day. We therefore got some spectacular views, delays behind slow cars, and even a couple of scares when there was a car coming the other direction around a really tight turn. There are a LOT of one lane bridges in NZ – those can be fun!

We stopped to snap some photos of the ocean, as we may not see much more of it

Once we arrived, we headed straight for the Tatare Tunnels (a bit deceiving, as there is only one tunnel). Our Scuba guide told us that we HAD to do this hike in Franz Josef, so we decided to go for it. It was about an hour and a half return hike, with the middle 35 minutes through a tunnel in a mountain. It was used as a mining tunnel in the past, and contains very cold water that you have to wade through for the duration of the tunnel. Despite our cold toes, the hike was spectacular and definitely worth it! We were even able to see more glowworms, which was actually quite cool. They were right above our heads through the tunnel. It was pitch black in the tunnel, so we had to use torches (flashlights). I think it sounds a lot cooler to say you’re carrying a torch than a flashlight.  It looked like there used to be access to at least one more tunnel, but at the end of the trail, there was a sign stating that the rest of the trail has been closed off. 

The end of the Tatare Tunnel. We are ready to head back through the tunnel and back down the trail.

There was another trail to the Callery Gorge nearby, so we did that one and a half hour return hike, as well. The gorge was neat, but the suspension bridge was not operating anymore, so we didn’t get as good a view as I’d hoped. The best part of the hike was walking through the thick rainforest. It is the first dense rainforest we’ve seen. The trees were covered in moss, and it was a stunning walk! We did almost get run over by someone on a dirt bike. We had passed him on his way into the trail, so he knew we were nearby when he zoomed past us on his way back out and missed Grant by only a few inches. We spoke to a couple of woman who live here and were hiking just ahead of us. They told us that they were very upset about it, as we were, and to report it tomorrow. They apparently know who the kid is and he causes a lot of problems in the area. It was pretty scary, and he definitely shouldn’t have been on the hiking trail.

Well, tomorrow is our last big activity – hiking on Franz Josef Glacier. We can’t wait to see it! We’re praying that the weather holds out. It was another beautiful day today, but there is a chance for rain tomorrow. Weather permitting, we’ll be celebrating Easter glacier-side! Pretty awesome!

Love, the George family