Wanaka and Franz Josef Glacier, Mon Apr 24, 2006
So all you people need to invest in CHEESE. Apparently, its a very hot commodity down here in hostels, because to date, I have had almost a kilogram of the stuff stolen out of hostel fridges. The thiefs leave the perfectly good butter, though. And because all you people are so loyally following this blog, now you know the next greatest investment secret in cultured dairy products is CHEESE, but only in New Zealand.
I spent a few nights relaxing in Wanaka after the Kepler track. It's about an hour and a half north of Queenstown. Primarily a ski town, its fairly quiet compared to Queenstown: there were only a few drunken fisticuffs and one cat fight on Saturday night. Pretty good for a bunch of drunk Kiwis, actually.
NZ beer is also pretty good, and the best part is, there's no tipping!! So, even though it cost $5 a pint, with the exchange rate and no tips, its like happy hour in the States. And most bars have TWO happy hours with $3 drinks: 5-6 and 9-10 pm. This place is practically overflowing with alcoholics... where the beer flows like wine...
Rode up the the west coast but was delayed over 5 hours. Parts of this area get over 9 meters of rain a year! (I'll let you English unit people do the math.) And we had a good portion of that yesterday, so that a river of mud and two ton boulders fell across the only road going up the West coast. Some poor bugger tried crossing in his mountain bike (in NZ, we call them idyuts), and ended up waist deep in sludge.
I climbed the 4th largest glacier in NZ and one of three in the world that make it down almost to sea level. It also rained... big surprise. So got drenched, but I also squeezed through half-shoulder-width crevasses, over huge ice boulders, and down crazy ice valleys. Tomorrow, I'll land on the moon.
Next stop, Christchurch via the TranzAlpine train that runs over the Southern Alps that run down the center of the South Island. I'm going to go car shopping!
Wish me luck, and pics very soon...
(Wed Apr 19)
(Wed Apr 26)
Comments
Let's see for us English unit people 9 meters would be 29.52 ft or 354.3 inches of rain. Have an idea on the cheese theft. If your butter comes in sticks cut cheese in stick size portions and then rewrap in butter wrapper. If (butter/butter substitute) comes in tubs I guess cut cheese in chunks and put in empty butter tub. Sounds like a you are having a blast good luck on finding a car. We will be praying that you keep safe and find a good car.
Have fun keep safe
Wes