New Zealand	Part 4
Kaikoura - Westport: 340 km (212 mi) 05 December 2002 We have breakfast in breakfast cafe in Kaikoura. Then we are on our way to Westport on the West Coast. We drive through the Lewis Pass and are being treated to magnificent scenery and fine weather. The sun is out and temperatures rise to 26°C/79°F. The road follows a number of river beds along high mountains. Closer to Westport the sky is getting more overcast, but it stays dry. In Westport we move into the The Happy Backpacker YHA hostel. We have a twin room with a TV. After a short break we take the car to Cape Foulwind, named that way by Captain Cook when he was confronted with adverse gales for a couple of days in 1770. Here is a seal colony and an old lighthouse. At night we have dinner at the only good restaurant around Westport, the Bay House Café  close to Cape Foulwind. Good food with a lovely view over the beach, the surfers and the Tasman Sea. Back to Westport which is fairly dead at night. Westport - Franz Josef Glacier: 280 km (175 mi)   6 december 2002 We have breakfast at café Mandala, that is not very special at all. The coffee is bad and the food leaves room for improvement. We drive south along the West Coast. The West Coast is famous for its beautiful coastline and the large yearly quantities of rain pouring down here. This part of coast sees about 2,865mm (114") of rain each year (compared to the Netherlands with 793mm (31")). Further south, Fiordland gets even more than 7 metres (279") of rain each year! That makes New Zealand's West Coast one of the wettest places on earth. And today is no exception. The rain pours steadily down. We stop at Punakaiki to have a look at the Pancake Rocks and the Blow Holes.  These are spectacular rocks that seem to have been formed by countless layers of "pancakes". At high tide the water blows out through the underpasses and openings in the rocks: "blow holes".    The coast is pretty sight, with rocks in the water and dense rain forest on the land. Sometimes the road veers inland and leads us into thick forest.  The scarce plains are occupied by cattle farms (cows, sheep, deer). We are not making fast progress, because the road is winding quite a bit. Close to Ross a stone hits the windscreen, which means we have to carry on with a small, yet beautifully shaped crack in it.  When we get closer to Franz Josef the weather clears and temperatures rise to 22°C/72°F. Franz Josef is a tiny village, owing its existence entirely to the glacier of that name. The glacier lies on the slopes of the southern Alps. Together with neighbouring Fox glacier these are the most spectacular glaciers of the South Island. At first the glaciers were called Victoria and Albert, but in 1865 the Austrian geologist called the northern one after the then Austrian emperor. After a visit of Prime Minister Fox the other gletsjer got its name. The glaciers move a lot. Since Captain Cook saw them in 1770 they have moved some 3km (2 mi) back. In 1985 they started advancing, but after 15 years of growth they are moving back again. We move into the new YHA-hostel, the best we have seen so far. A double room with ensuites. There is a sauna as well. We plan to do a heli-hike, which involves being dropped on top of the glacier with a helicopter, making a guided walk for two hours and being picked  up again by the same chopper. We enquire at the Guiding Company about our heli-hike tomorrow. Today, it turns out, there have not been any flights and nothing sensible can be said about tomorrow by the staff who seem to have university degrees in being evasive. We have a glance at the glacier from some distance. It is a beautiful sight. Back in the hostel we have break before w have lunch at the Blue Ice Café. A good place to eat with a popular bar upstairs, full of adventurous young people. I have Green Lipped Mussels followed by Whitebait - a West Coast speciality: small eels baked in an omelette. Later we have a drink upstairs at the Blue Ice bar.   7 December 2002 Last night there were heavy rain storms with thunder. This morning it is still raining cats and dogs. Our hopes for a heli-hike today are crushed instantly. The girl of the Guiding Company tells us that the weather is too wet for the pilots to get out of bed this morning. A heli-hike is not on the cards today. Tomorrow we may stand a better chance as the weather is reportedly going to improve. "But well,... on the one hand this and on the other hand that...nothing is certain of course".  We decide to stay an extra night in Franz Josef. We have breakfast and  count our blessings for not having booked a full day trek, because these do take place today in the pouring rain. This to the dismay of a couple dutchmen who would have liked their money back, considering the weather. We drive around a bit, but there is nothing fun to do in this weather. The villages North of Franz Josef are nothing much. Not even Okarito, the first spot of New Zealand that Abel Tasman set eyes on in  1642. We drive to Fox Glacier. That is a lot livelier. Just like in Franz Josef the town planners have tried induce an alpine atmosphere through the architecture. In combination with the the backdrop of the  snow topped mountains they almost succeeded, but the rainforest around it makes this area unique. We have lunch in Café Névé (fine) and look at the Fox glacier from a lookout. We can just see it between the clearing clouds. Meanwhile it has stopped raining and there is some blue in the western sky. We keep on hoping for tomorrow. We drive back to the hostel. Late afternoon we sip on some nice cocktails and later we have dinner again in the Blue Ice Café.   8 december 2002 The sky is very promising indeed this morning. We hear the hum of helicopters above us. Full of good hope we make for the Alpine Adventure Centre, where the Guiding Company is based. Our enthusiasm is dealt a first blow when we are told that there is quite some wind up on the glacier and a heli-hike is not all that certain. We have breakfast in Café Franz and at 9:15 we get the bad news. The heli-hike has been cancelled again! We can do a so called Snow Landing with Alpine Adventures. That is a helicopter flight over the glacier with a landing in the snow on top of a neighbouring mountain top. We can walk around up there for about 8 minutes after which we are flown back over the glacier into town. We can leave in 5 minutes. It is a beautiful flight, but very short. In 20 minutes were back again and set back $150 each.  Franz Josef - Wanaka: 290 km 181 mi) The we have coffee before we start our drive to Wanaka. It is a lovely drive. First a stretch along the coast and then through Haast and the Haast Pass inward. This part of the island is very remote and deserted, with virtually no settlements at all. We stop for a while at Knights Point for the view. Nature is very impressive here with snow topped mountains, fast flowing rivers and lots of green (ferns). The sun plays its part and after a good 4.5 hours we arrive at Lake Wanaka. The town of Wanaka is beautifully set at the lake's southern shore. Wanaka is all about tourism and activities, but in a relaxed way. We stay at the Purple Cow backpackers. We take a stroll around town and have a drink enjoying the view of the mountains and the lake. Later we have dinner at a Japanese restaurant called Sasako and later on we drink a beer at Shooters, the most popular bar in town with a lake view as a bonus.

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