Will Around the World

After an uneventful night, I left Greymouth this morning to start my bus tour of the South Island. The company, Magic Bus, is one of two major bus operators in New Zealand. This outfit was reputed to cater to stodgy, older travelers. (Its competitor, Kiwi Experience, is said to burst from the seams with horny collegiate Europeans.) This season, however, Magic Bus slashed its prices, and so my bus had a good share of young backpackers. The rowdier ones, invariably English, sat in the back, boxes of beer under their seats. English made up the majority of passengers, followed by other Europeans. When I boarded the bus, none of them paid attention to me. I sat next to a Korean girl in her mid to late twenties. When we got on the road, I started to talk with her. She told me that she studies English in Auckland.

This morning the rain let up, but the skies were still ominous. The four-hour trip was a race to get to our destination ahead of the rain. As impatient as I was, the bus still stopped three times. First was Hokitika, a jade town. Then Ross, a former gold mining outpost. At both stops the passengers had ample time to smoke a cigarette and buy trinkets to support the local economies. The final stop was a backwoods "Bushman" center. This featured domesticated deer, an opossum petting zoo, a wild pig, and a video chronicling the nation's deer farming industry. (I paid 4 NZD for the last item and wished I could have it back.) This must have been the biggest attraction for miles around because four other tour buses parked here at the same time. For all the business Magic Bus was bringing to these Podunks, not to mention the time lost in getting us to where we really wanted to be, the least the company could have done was give us a rebate.

Rainy day in Glacier Country

That desired destination is the Franz Josef Glacier. It's unique because it descends from the Alps to a very low elevation, terminating in a sub-tropical rain forest just a few miles from the sea. It's one of the most accessible glaciers in the world. I planned to explore it on a helihike. In this activity, you ride a helicopter up to ice caves that climbers starting from the base would not be able to reach in one day. The helihike is only two hours, which meant I could do it this afternoon and rejoin the bus the next day.

We arrived at Franz Josef Village at 1 PM. The weather was absolutely dreadful; it only rained harder as the day went on. I checked in at the helihike office just to hear that all hikes today were cancelled. I could have stayed in for the rest of the day but I didn't want to be cooped up in a damp, crowded hostel room. Instead I walked to the glacier, which was four kilometers away. Covered by a rain jacket, I reached the halfway point when a minivan stopped and opened its door. I hopped in. The vehicle's passengers were a group of Scottish retirees who wanted to see the glacier from a safe distance. When we reached the parking lot of the viewing point I thanked them, but walked away from the glacier to the Lake Wombat Track, recommended by the visitors center. I walked for a half hour on a trail that was shrouded by thick foliage and a dense mist. Of course, I got soaked. All I could show for it was a tui sighting (a songbird native to New Zealand) and some waterfalls. Granted, the heavy downpour made the the creeks and cataracts rage.

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Rainy weather makes magnificent waterfalls

I returned to the village by evening. By then the rain had suspended, and the sky cleared for just a few minutes. But this respite revealed a magnificent sight: the snow-capped peaks of the Southern Alps. They were so enormous and so near that it was a wonder that they had been completely invisible up till now.

First day in Glacier Country: sun broke through for fifteen minutes

The hostel I stayed in was pretty big, but most of its guests were in their rooms or having a drink in the village. I chose to stay in. I cooked a simple dinner and hung out in the common room the rest of the night. I met two girls from California who bought an old car and were driving around the island. Because of the uncooperative weather, they had been stuck here already for a few days. It had been a while since I last met Americans -- from my home state, no less -- but in spite of my eagerness to make conversation, we ended up watching a video: Love Actually. For it's boorish depiction of the American president, I thought it was an apt choice.

# posted by billklee @ 21:35