So I am driving along the two lane highway at 100km an hour. The highway itself has been cut like a scar through the side of the mountain, meaning steep hill on one side & a cliff on the other. As I speed along at pace, the sun, struggling over mountain itself occasionally sneaks through low points on the cliff to my left, so that the light flicks on and off then on and off, just like an old movie reel.
It was then, more than ever, that I was struck by the movie-set feel of New Zealand, and especially the mountain areas of the South Island!
Of course, it had all started when we found a park in the dark, having driven out of Christchurch for a couple of hours. We were up into the mountains &, having little idea about where we should camp, we decided to pull off at the next dirt road and just look for a flat place somewhre. One turn & a short drive up a questionable dirt road later, we had success!
The next morning, we had a small taste of God’s providence. We had managed to find a free site set next to a lake fringed with mountains! The view was amazing!
That day we did a couple of short hikes to see some waterfalls, then drove into Greymouth so that Matt could get some emergency dental work done (No movie would be ready without at least a couple of twists in the plot). we got him fixed up and then powered on to Franz Josef in preparation for our glacier walk the next day.
We ended up going down to Fox Glacier & it was a cracker of a move. Slightly less busy, but just as pretty! we spent 5 hours hiking on the glacier with our guides Matt & Tamra. Sometimes we were on paths through the ice, sometimes they would use their pics to cut stairs into the pinacles that we would climb! It was awesome & I took a heck of a lot of photos while I was there.
Another drive into a mountain pass, and another camp site. It was less successful than our first one. We had to pay for it, the view was only average (which is still amazing by every day standards) we scored a fair bit of rain that night & WAY too many midges, that are little blood sucking buggers!
All was forgotten when we were back on the road & styling our way through the mountains. Another little piece of excitement was wondering whether or not we had enough fuel to actually make it to the next town. Fortunately, the answer was yes. we had some breakfast & pushed on through Wanaka & up down to Queenstown via (surpise surprise) some more amazing mountains!
Matty C went on the shotover boat & Steve, Dave and I waited in town, where we got to sample some of the local beers. Then we drove up to Glen Orchy to stay the night.
So I dropped the boys off this morning. They are trekking for two days, along the Routeburn path, coming out nea Milford. hence I find myself driving along my mountain road, listenin to the best of the Supertones & lost in movie thoughts.
God is a creative God, and I am a lucky man.
This is the life…