Day 2 - Christchurch - Fox Glacier

We woke up and looked out the window and it was misty and eerie and looked exactly like it had when we had been in Washington and been at the Vietnam Memorial.  Packed up the car and headed off to look for breakfast.  Found a centre called The Hub and stopped there.  Then came the fun part – trying to sort out my phone to use with the sim card we got from the lady at Hertz.  Well 2-3 hrs later and lots of frustration on my part – we finally left – still without any phone coverage.  This was totally my fault as I hadn’t done whatever it was that Al mentioned once in Australia as I had completely forgotten him mentioning said task that I needed to complete ! 

 View from our hotel window



In the car park

 



Al wanted to go to a DFO equivalent called Dress Smart – I wasn’t that keen because I wanted to get on the road – he won that compromise !!!  But we didn’t really shop around much – more like a quick dash through trying to find a phone shop (not successful) and so we went back across the road to The Hub for another try at sorting out my phone as they had free wi-fi in the centre.  At about 12 noon I said enough was enough and we left.

Drove past lots of paddocks surrounded by huge hedges – I remembered them exactly like that.  Drove past lots of sheep and the cutest little lambs (didn’t get any photos but on my list of things to do before we leave).  And then we hit Arthur’s Pass.  It wasn’t anything like we imagined – we imagine a pass through the mountains but it was actually a pass through the valley !!!!!  So really high mountains on one side and the valley floor on the other side.  I slept through part of that and woke when Al got to the West Coast and went to have a look at that ocean there.  Saw lots of lovely drift wood  - if only we could bring some of it home !!!!!

I love you too !!! 

 More driftwood

We had both forgotten about all the single lane bridges and how we can drive at 100kph on a single lane in either direction road – so strange when in Queensland we can only do 100kph on a three lane in either direction highway !!!!!

Stopped to put in petrol at Hokitika and the guy who ran the servo was from Pietermaritzburg, a town about 80kms from where we lived in South Africa !!!  We drove through Frans Josef and stopped at Fox Glacier and found accommodation for the night at a really lovely place called Westhaven.  They had undercarpet heating and this wee little heater on the wall which we thought wouldn’t be able to heat up the room but we were pleasantly surprised at how well it distributed the heat it generated.  It also had a really good sized bath so I made sure to have a great soak in it before I went to bed (I love a good soak in the bath with my book)!!!  We had dinner at Cook and Saddle – Al had ribs and chips and I had spinach and feta cannelloni before walking back to the unit (rather briskly as it was bloody cold) and hitting the bed after a great first day on holiday.