Thurs AM in Okarito

It’s Wednesday afternoon and we’ve just returned from the town of Franz Josef where we had lunch, and attempted to get a helicopter ride to the top of the glacier.  No such luck as the clouds around the mountains were too low for the helicopters to operate.  Our back-up plan was to have Simon lead us on a hike up the valley floor towards the foot of the glacier, and that’s what we did.  I should say several of us did.  The others wandered around the village, or, in the case of Claira and Lillian, took a long soak in the hot springs at the north end of town.  Alas, there is was no quilt store in Franz.  Looks like I finally have a few minutes to write, although I’m doing this on a Word program off line, and not sure when I’ll get to paste it into a blogspot posting. [Got on line this Thursday morning] The little café  here in Okarito where I wrote earlier today has Wi-Fi, but it apparently doesn’t like MacBook Air computers.  It repeatedly rejected the valid password before accepting it on a last try.  A little later it again wouldn’t take it.  Someone said that the router had problems with the MacAit.  Oh well.

I think my last full-length posting was after our beach walk at Wilderness Lodge on Monday.  After we returned from that we had a late lunch at the Lodge, cleaned ourselves up, and took kayaks up the Moeraki River to the Lake.  Everyone but Rebecca and Susan, that is.  They caught up on the washing and drying.  It was a lot of fun, seeing Harry (or possibly Harriet), the White Heron who has claimed the territory around the lodge, and some black swans. 

Later in the afternoon Scott and I took a 45 minute nature walk led by Nikki, one of the staff naturalists.   While she was doing that the girls did the eel feeding walk, and it’s been reported that Lillian was able to actually “pet” one of the eels when it came out of the water to feed.  Hmmmm…..not too sure about that kid! 

Just before dinner, while we were all sitting in the lounge, Gerry came in and gave a talk on the history of the Lodge, and early events along the beach where we had walked that morning.  Regarding the latter he opened a book and read the journal of a seaman, who, along with 4 others were on that very beach (in fact in a cave that we saw) to harvest the fur seals.  They were attacked by the Maori, and 3 of them killed (and probably eaten, as the Maori were cannibals).  The two survivors managed to escape in their boat, and rowed some 200 miles to safety.  Gerry said it was unusual for sealers to be literate, and fortunate that one of the survivor’s journal has made it to the history books.  Dinner that evening was, again, at the Lodge.  (There really aren’t any other options.)  The Backroads Company also had a group of 7 staying there.

Yesterday (Tuesday) morning we got on the bikes and headed North on Hwy 6.  It was quite chilly--definitely in the low to mid 30s, but there wasn’t a cloud in the sky, and when we finally broke out of a long valley into the sunshine it warmed up to “just right” temperatures.  Pat, the star athlete in the group, headed out to do the whole 72 miles, the final 14 miles of which are called the Triple Bypass, a winding, steep, narrow road with over 3 major climbs.  (Katie, if you are reading this, I bet you would have been with her!)  Pat is an (almost) 57 year old Wonder Woman on a bike.  She handles the flats and downhill’s at a fast clip, then, it seems to me, speeds up when she heads uphill. Probably not, but she doesn’t attack a hill, she eats it alive.  Lillian did a few miles on her single bike.  Scott and Claira rode together and made the 58 miles to Franz Josef.  I rode along with Rebecca, Trixie, and Simon about 40 miles, then, along with Trixie, decided to take the van.  Rebecca and Simon continued on to Franz, making the 58 miles.   Regardless of how you travel that stretch of road it is beautiful.  As you get close to Fox Glacier you can see the snow covered peaks of the Southern Alps.  In other places you are along the beach with great views of the rain forest coming down to the shore. 

As I wrote earlier this morning, Paula and Swade had prepared a very delicious dinner of barbecue chicken, venison and pork sausages.  Then there was the walk across the road to the concert in a room about the size of an average living room.  Fiona, on the violin, was the “front” person, and just full of energy and talent.  The first row where some of our group were sitting were close enough that Fiona said she hoped she didn’t step on their feet.   Following the concert, most of us returned to our cabin, but Scott, Claira, and Lillian went back to Paula and Swade’s place to hang out with the musicians.

A bike is a great—if not the best—way to see New Zealand.  Simon, Jess, Paula and Julian have done a super job of putting this tour together and supporting it all the way.  Simon led tours here for several years, so is very familiar with the attractions and best places to eat and stay.  Paula also led bike tours here for a number of years, and was an important resource in planning the tour.  This is actually the inaugural bike tour of their new company “Great Bike Tours”.  For those who are interested you can Google their website.  Simon says he’s working on putting something together for South Africa next year.

We’re spread out in different homes here in Okarito, right in the area where Abel Tasman, the Dutch navigator, became the first European to sail these shores in 1642.  Captain Cook came much later, then the whalers and the seal hunters.  Tonight we’re all getting together at the Snyder/Winget’s spacious 3 bedroom cabin to eat the takeout that we got in town.  Tomorrow it will be back on the bikes to Hokitika, the jade center of New Zealand.  The following day we head back towards the east coast for the final night at Oxford, a suburb of Christchurch.  Sad to say, this tour is winding down.

Thurs AM Footnote:  It's a wet morning, and looks like we'll be riding the van to Okarito.  Jim