One question that popped into my head when hovering over the glaciers and mountains the previous day was just big is all this really? I don't know if it was the lack of horizon or the constantly changing altitude (the pilot was definitely having fun) but it was difficult to tell just how big everything below us was. Franz and Fox were enlightening.
The first glacial town you come to when heading south along the west coast is Franz Josef. It is a mountain town not really in the mountains, but that's the west coast for you. A land of extremes. More or less the town itself is a bit of a tourist trap, at least superficially, but what we cared about lied just outside it's borders. Franz Josef Glacier. It was about a 45 minute hike in and bang, there you are. Massive glacier moving it's way, up?, the mountain. The first thing that impressed me about it was where it once was. Even just 100 years ago it was so much bigger. You pass signs on the hike in, 30 minutes before you can even see it in the distance (and I mean waaaay in the distance), that show where it "once was." The second thing that impressed me was just how insanely huge it still is. We couldn't get right up on it as the dangers are extreme but even from far away it makes you feel very small. We were standing in a valley, thousands of yards from this glacier, scoured by years and years of glacial movement. Franz Josef has left it's mark on every thing from the cliff walls to the tiny pebbles on he ground. It is amazing what ice can do. What is left in its receding wake is just as beautiful as the glacier itself. Incredible waterfalls, beautiful rock formations, pools of the most beautiful blue water... The pictures don't do justice. The scale and power of everything in that valley was humbling.
Heading south from Franz you come to the town of Fox Glacier. It is basically a smaller version of the first, the town that is. I believe Fox Glacier is supposed to be the less trafficked glacier but for me it was the more impressive. I don't think the valley was as beautiful but the way you approached the glacier itself was special. You basically walk in the brush for 20 minutes or so which is very green and thick and then out of nowhere you crest a little hill and between the forest and trail you can see the glacier glowing in the distance. Very cool. It was also neat to see the pools and river carrying away pieces of the glacier. For us, catching pieces of ice was like touching the real thing. Not the same I know but as close as we could get. I'll take it! The vantage point at the end of this trail is up on a hill so you can look down on the valley below. This is where I took the pictures of the two guys walking below us. The whole experience, the two glaciers and chopper ride deep into the mountains, really opened my eyes to just how amazing and extreme the terrain is out there. I don't think I imagined it right because the reality of it all blew me away.
Tuesday, March 24, 2009
A Rivermouth Sans Kiwis and Glaciers by Air
From Hokitika we drove down the coast with intentions of ending our day's journey at Okarito. This stretch of coast (particularly from Greymouth south) is known as the last frontier of surf exploration in New Zealand. Along the way we took numerous detours in an effort to scope potential spots for the upcoming winter, however, it's a complicated stretch of coastline with no great ways to access what could be "holding." Most of it is national park and farm land only accessible by foot, boat, or trespassing. Adding to the allure are the endless points and bays visible on the map. The right bottom with that exposure to the Tasman...! I can only imagine. What areas we did see where amazingly barren stretches of beach with more driftwood piled up than I'd ever imagined. We'd check a spot, drive 30 minutes, check another and it looked the same as the last. Note to self: Need to get rich, buy a plane or helicopter, and thoroughly explore this area again. Either that or para-sail which Tim and I are talking about. We'll see on that one.
As we got further down the coast we happened to cross a bridge that carried us over the strangest shade of blue I'd ever seen. "What the hell was that?!?" Right as we were about to turn around we noticed a pull-off for an i site. That's another cool thing about New Zealand travel. Almost everywhere you go there are i sites. If there is more than 10 houses in a town there's an i site. There on all the maps and all the nearby road signs. These little gems provide a wealth of information regarding area offerings, weather, they usually have internet, and can book anything for you from accommodation to activities. A truly amazing invention. As we drove down the turn off for the i site we noticed the buzzing of a helicopter. We came to the could a sac right on the river and that's when it hit us. We're in glacier country, this must be glacial run-off. It's hard to describe just how different the color was. It was almost as if you took the bluest sky you'd ever seen and added a touch of milk and light. Radiant. We sat there, took a few photos, and watched some rafters come in when we were approached with one hell of an offer.
The owner of a site seeing company told us that he had two people booked on a tour of the local mountains/glaciers and that there were four seats. For him sending anything less than a full vehicle was just bad business and for doing him the favor of filling two seats he'd knock 40% off. Apparently the buzzing we'd heard was the transportation... How do you say no to that? Off we were on a heli tour of the local mountains and glaciers. Wow did that change my perspective of the local terrain! It was endless jagged peaks wrapped in huge ice flows. In every crack and crevasse were pools of crazy blue water. There were clouds forming and moving at amazing rates all around the area giving the feeling of the mountain being alive. It was almost what I'd imagine flying above a volcano would be like only this was ice. I don't know why it felt alive and volatile but it did. For the first time I feel like I know why mountaineers do what they do. I see the allure at that elevation. It truly was awe inspiring.
At the end of the day we made our way to Okarito and upon checking the beach found a perfect little river mouth to surf. The only problem, or potential problem, was that the waves looked the best of the other side of the river. Normally this is a no issue but this particular river was DUMPING water into the ocean at a rate which raised the red flag (at least 1/2 way up the pole): Can we paddle across this before getting swept out to sea? Tim and I, being men of brawn, decided to charge it. We walked way up the river, jumped in, and started paddling our asses off. All was going well and both of us were looking good thinking "no problem," when I noticed that the opposite embankment was not like the one we just left. It was not sandy, smooth, and gradual, no, it was made of pebbles that dropped vertically into the water. I have not seen a shoreline like this before. As I approached it I jumped off onto the vertical shore but as I clawed my way up pebbles just kept moving and moving, making it almost impossible to climb. While paddling we had drifted almost to the point where the river meets the ocean. I think our fear of getting caught in that current and our slight "concern" with Dante's shoreline prompted adrenal flow and subsequent shoreline summit. I still don't know how hard it was to climb. It just happened. Luckily the surf was really fun and consistent and the paddle back was onto a shoreline we'd come off of and knew it was easy. So yeah, surfed till sunset then made the long paddle back.
That night we cooked some dinner on the beach then remembered seeing a pull-off for a "Kiwi habitat" when we came in. The first park of it's kind that we'd seen in NZ. Understand this about Kiwi's. There's the fruit, the people, and the bird. The people are everywhere (obviously) and that term for them is fact. It's not rude and it's not overly endearing. They just are kiwi's. There's the fruit which, while in every grocery store and surely grown here, I have yet to see on a tree. This is duly noted however since their price in grocery stores is just right. Then there is the bird, the mother of them all, the flightless little ball of feathers that looks like something you just want to squeeze. If I'm not mistaken this is where the word "Kiwi" started. Funny thing about it. They are NOWHERE. Don't get me wrong, they do exist, but even most of the born and raised locals have yet to see them in the wild. For some reason I have a feeling I'll see one and have been ridiculed for that notion since arriving. "Suuuuure you will," is what I usually get. This "Kiwi habitat" was our chance!!! They are nocturnal birds so the time was right. Off Tim and I went. It was a short up-hill hike to the "habitat" and while we did hear them all around us calling to each other, we could not get our lights on them. A tricky foe this Kiwi is turning out to be! Luckily there was a large wooden platform at the top of the hike where you could relax and the benches were perfect for laying down and looking up at the always impressive New Zealand night sky. I saw a Kiwi alright, in the stars! Dammit I will see one on this trip!!!
As we got further down the coast we happened to cross a bridge that carried us over the strangest shade of blue I'd ever seen. "What the hell was that?!?" Right as we were about to turn around we noticed a pull-off for an i site. That's another cool thing about New Zealand travel. Almost everywhere you go there are i sites. If there is more than 10 houses in a town there's an i site. There on all the maps and all the nearby road signs. These little gems provide a wealth of information regarding area offerings, weather, they usually have internet, and can book anything for you from accommodation to activities. A truly amazing invention. As we drove down the turn off for the i site we noticed the buzzing of a helicopter. We came to the could a sac right on the river and that's when it hit us. We're in glacier country, this must be glacial run-off. It's hard to describe just how different the color was. It was almost as if you took the bluest sky you'd ever seen and added a touch of milk and light. Radiant. We sat there, took a few photos, and watched some rafters come in when we were approached with one hell of an offer.
The owner of a site seeing company told us that he had two people booked on a tour of the local mountains/glaciers and that there were four seats. For him sending anything less than a full vehicle was just bad business and for doing him the favor of filling two seats he'd knock 40% off. Apparently the buzzing we'd heard was the transportation... How do you say no to that? Off we were on a heli tour of the local mountains and glaciers. Wow did that change my perspective of the local terrain! It was endless jagged peaks wrapped in huge ice flows. In every crack and crevasse were pools of crazy blue water. There were clouds forming and moving at amazing rates all around the area giving the feeling of the mountain being alive. It was almost what I'd imagine flying above a volcano would be like only this was ice. I don't know why it felt alive and volatile but it did. For the first time I feel like I know why mountaineers do what they do. I see the allure at that elevation. It truly was awe inspiring.
At the end of the day we made our way to Okarito and upon checking the beach found a perfect little river mouth to surf. The only problem, or potential problem, was that the waves looked the best of the other side of the river. Normally this is a no issue but this particular river was DUMPING water into the ocean at a rate which raised the red flag (at least 1/2 way up the pole): Can we paddle across this before getting swept out to sea? Tim and I, being men of brawn, decided to charge it. We walked way up the river, jumped in, and started paddling our asses off. All was going well and both of us were looking good thinking "no problem," when I noticed that the opposite embankment was not like the one we just left. It was not sandy, smooth, and gradual, no, it was made of pebbles that dropped vertically into the water. I have not seen a shoreline like this before. As I approached it I jumped off onto the vertical shore but as I clawed my way up pebbles just kept moving and moving, making it almost impossible to climb. While paddling we had drifted almost to the point where the river meets the ocean. I think our fear of getting caught in that current and our slight "concern" with Dante's shoreline prompted adrenal flow and subsequent shoreline summit. I still don't know how hard it was to climb. It just happened. Luckily the surf was really fun and consistent and the paddle back was onto a shoreline we'd come off of and knew it was easy. So yeah, surfed till sunset then made the long paddle back.
That night we cooked some dinner on the beach then remembered seeing a pull-off for a "Kiwi habitat" when we came in. The first park of it's kind that we'd seen in NZ. Understand this about Kiwi's. There's the fruit, the people, and the bird. The people are everywhere (obviously) and that term for them is fact. It's not rude and it's not overly endearing. They just are kiwi's. There's the fruit which, while in every grocery store and surely grown here, I have yet to see on a tree. This is duly noted however since their price in grocery stores is just right. Then there is the bird, the mother of them all, the flightless little ball of feathers that looks like something you just want to squeeze. If I'm not mistaken this is where the word "Kiwi" started. Funny thing about it. They are NOWHERE. Don't get me wrong, they do exist, but even most of the born and raised locals have yet to see them in the wild. For some reason I have a feeling I'll see one and have been ridiculed for that notion since arriving. "Suuuuure you will," is what I usually get. This "Kiwi habitat" was our chance!!! They are nocturnal birds so the time was right. Off Tim and I went. It was a short up-hill hike to the "habitat" and while we did hear them all around us calling to each other, we could not get our lights on them. A tricky foe this Kiwi is turning out to be! Luckily there was a large wooden platform at the top of the hike where you could relax and the benches were perfect for laying down and looking up at the always impressive New Zealand night sky. I saw a Kiwi alright, in the stars! Dammit I will see one on this trip!!!
Monday, March 23, 2009
Wild What?
Wild Foods. You name it and you can probably get it at this festival. I mean it, go ahead, give it a shot. Brain? Got it. Lambs tail? Got it. Sheep's balls? Got it. Chances are that if you have a hankering to eat something that is/was at one point part of a living animal found in New Zealand, you could do it at this festival. They even had a few nice "live" dishes as well but before I get into the nitty gritty, let me rewind.
The festival itself is held in the Pounamu (Jade) capital of New Zealand; a little beach town by the name of Hokitika. It is an artsy place seemingly guided by the jade carving industry. There are such beautiful pieces in sizes that I didn't even know jade could be found in! What added to the artsy feel was that in addition to the "wild foods" part of the festival they set up the town square with booths of artists and crafts makers from all over New Zealand. Trinkets galore. My mom would have been in heaven. Our first day there was spent wandering the booths, getting our tickets for the next day's shenanigans, and trying to surf. I say trying because that's exactly what we did. I have never before been in a rip current that strong. No matter how hard I paddled I couldn't beat it. I was in its clutches. The funny thing about it was that the rip current wasn't going out to sea, it was going straight toward and adjacent to shore! Tim and I were both paddling for about 5 minutes before we realized we weren't going anywhere but down the beach. The current was so bad when we finally made it to the next sandbar where we could stand (maybe waist deep), we put our feet down and dug in but were still getting dragged! In the end Tim never made it out and it took me every ounce of effort to get through the rip. When I finally did I caught two waves and came in out of shear exhaustion. Can you say beat down?
Now it's time for Wild Foods. Maybe. The first thing I noticed at the festival was just how insanely big it was. If I remember correctly I think they were limiting tickets this year to 15,000 people. Apparently there was no cap in past years and it was just getting out of control. Imagine it. 15,000+ people descending on a town of 3,000. One massive party... Apparently the taboo food isn't so taboo anymore. I saw everyone from little kids to an elderly lady in her Sunday's best cruising around in a rascal. There were costumes, games, sing-alongs, lots of food, and lots of drinking. That was by far the largest group of truly inebriated people I have ever seen. The great part was that there was lots of green space (central park in town) which facilitated the "inebriated sprawl." You could almost tell the time by the increasing amount of people falling out on the surrounding lawn. Alright Matt, the goods please? By FAR, the most disgusting food I saw was sheep's balls. Hands down. I didn't get to see anyone eat them but apparently earlier in the day someone did order and eat one. Check the pictures...they're full on disgusting. They were mincing the huevos and making sandwiches out of them which seemed quite popular but still, not my kind of edible organ. That seemed to be the overriding king of disgustingness. You had to be somewhat careful because wild foods seemed to mean two things. There were the wild foods that might be a delicacy in another country and were prepared with scrutiny and then there were the "Fear Factor" wild foods that just tried to be as grotesquely extreme as possible. One tent might have a wild meat stew that was wild venison, wild boar, wild goat, wild mushroom, etc., and one might have a stew by the same name that had brain, testicles, eyes, etc. If you come, read the fine print. I feel bad for the guy who gets extremely drunk and indiscriminately hungry in a place like that. "I ate what?!?!" As far as what Tim and I had: chocolate covered grubs, grasshopper, worms sushi, ostrich, kangaroo, and wild venison and mushroom sausage. I have to agree with my brother, the crunchy bugs are my least favorite. Worms tasted too much like dirt. Grubs probably were the least attractive initially but the best tasting of the three. Kangaroo and ostrich were delicious as was the venison. We also had some ham and cheese crapes as filler in between. We figured it wasn't a good idea to walk around hungry as we did have a beer or three. Thankfully not all the food was on the side of extreme. Another cool thing we got to try was kava from Fiji. It was a very interesting drink and not nearly as bad tasting as I'd thought. I've heard over and over that it tastes like dirty water and that some people have a hard time drinking it. To me it just tasted like an earth tea or something. Not repulsive just not epic either. I'll definitely need to try it again though because outside of a numb tongue (hell yeah it was fun) I really didn't get too much of an effect. Could have been all the food and beer interfering.
So that was it. That was Wild Foods for us. Lots of walking around, lots of eating and drinking, lots of bouncing to the live music, etc. It was a beautiful day with beautiful weather and if I remember correctly we hung around outside that evening watching the sunset and thinking just how bad of an idea it would be to try and go for a surf...
The festival itself is held in the Pounamu (Jade) capital of New Zealand; a little beach town by the name of Hokitika. It is an artsy place seemingly guided by the jade carving industry. There are such beautiful pieces in sizes that I didn't even know jade could be found in! What added to the artsy feel was that in addition to the "wild foods" part of the festival they set up the town square with booths of artists and crafts makers from all over New Zealand. Trinkets galore. My mom would have been in heaven. Our first day there was spent wandering the booths, getting our tickets for the next day's shenanigans, and trying to surf. I say trying because that's exactly what we did. I have never before been in a rip current that strong. No matter how hard I paddled I couldn't beat it. I was in its clutches. The funny thing about it was that the rip current wasn't going out to sea, it was going straight toward and adjacent to shore! Tim and I were both paddling for about 5 minutes before we realized we weren't going anywhere but down the beach. The current was so bad when we finally made it to the next sandbar where we could stand (maybe waist deep), we put our feet down and dug in but were still getting dragged! In the end Tim never made it out and it took me every ounce of effort to get through the rip. When I finally did I caught two waves and came in out of shear exhaustion. Can you say beat down?
Now it's time for Wild Foods. Maybe. The first thing I noticed at the festival was just how insanely big it was. If I remember correctly I think they were limiting tickets this year to 15,000 people. Apparently there was no cap in past years and it was just getting out of control. Imagine it. 15,000+ people descending on a town of 3,000. One massive party... Apparently the taboo food isn't so taboo anymore. I saw everyone from little kids to an elderly lady in her Sunday's best cruising around in a rascal. There were costumes, games, sing-alongs, lots of food, and lots of drinking. That was by far the largest group of truly inebriated people I have ever seen. The great part was that there was lots of green space (central park in town) which facilitated the "inebriated sprawl." You could almost tell the time by the increasing amount of people falling out on the surrounding lawn. Alright Matt, the goods please? By FAR, the most disgusting food I saw was sheep's balls. Hands down. I didn't get to see anyone eat them but apparently earlier in the day someone did order and eat one. Check the pictures...they're full on disgusting. They were mincing the huevos and making sandwiches out of them which seemed quite popular but still, not my kind of edible organ. That seemed to be the overriding king of disgustingness. You had to be somewhat careful because wild foods seemed to mean two things. There were the wild foods that might be a delicacy in another country and were prepared with scrutiny and then there were the "Fear Factor" wild foods that just tried to be as grotesquely extreme as possible. One tent might have a wild meat stew that was wild venison, wild boar, wild goat, wild mushroom, etc., and one might have a stew by the same name that had brain, testicles, eyes, etc. If you come, read the fine print. I feel bad for the guy who gets extremely drunk and indiscriminately hungry in a place like that. "I ate what?!?!" As far as what Tim and I had: chocolate covered grubs, grasshopper, worms sushi, ostrich, kangaroo, and wild venison and mushroom sausage. I have to agree with my brother, the crunchy bugs are my least favorite. Worms tasted too much like dirt. Grubs probably were the least attractive initially but the best tasting of the three. Kangaroo and ostrich were delicious as was the venison. We also had some ham and cheese crapes as filler in between. We figured it wasn't a good idea to walk around hungry as we did have a beer or three. Thankfully not all the food was on the side of extreme. Another cool thing we got to try was kava from Fiji. It was a very interesting drink and not nearly as bad tasting as I'd thought. I've heard over and over that it tastes like dirty water and that some people have a hard time drinking it. To me it just tasted like an earth tea or something. Not repulsive just not epic either. I'll definitely need to try it again though because outside of a numb tongue (hell yeah it was fun) I really didn't get too much of an effect. Could have been all the food and beer interfering.
So that was it. That was Wild Foods for us. Lots of walking around, lots of eating and drinking, lots of bouncing to the live music, etc. It was a beautiful day with beautiful weather and if I remember correctly we hung around outside that evening watching the sunset and thinking just how bad of an idea it would be to try and go for a surf...
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