Glacial Pancakes – 30 December 2007

Today got underway with us having breakfast with our hosts and their other guests. The cereal and toast were not enough; therefore we packed up and went for additional breakfast at the Wild Coast Café. Without any Lord of the Rings events on tap today, yet wanting to keep it in our minds, one might call it second breakfast in honor of Merry and Pippen.
After second breakfast we switched from Lord of the Rings to BBC’s Walking with Dinosaurs. Across the road from the cafe was the Pancake Rock and Blowhole entrance. This actually was our third stop on the Walking with Dinosaurs tour (Orakei Korako and the rainforest on the other side of the swing bridge near the Rivendell film location we visited in Wellington were the first two). At the conclusion of our trek we visited the Visitor Centre and Crafts buildings to shop for postcards and anything else that may scream “BUY ME!” Only the postcards jumped into Hayley’s hands.
More than an hour later than expected we hit the road for the Fox Glacier Village. We made a brief refueling stop in Greymouth where I utilized a four cent per litre discount coupon given to us by Diane, our host at the Nikau Palms. She gets them when grocery shopping, yet does not drive enough to use them. Therefore she passes them on to her guests.
Hayley as usual took a nap, while I weaved our way up, down and around the winding coast of the South Island. With Hayley fast asleep she missed two awe-inspiring sites. With the sky overcast, mountain tops were not visible. At least until a hole in the clouds opened up to reveal snow capped peaks. I do not know which ones they were, however they were breathtaking. Just as soon as the peaks appeared they vanished. The opening was only there for a brief moment like that of a hole in the offensive line during a running play in football. About a half hour later down the road another brief clearing of the lower cloud cover dissipated to reveal yet another snowcapped peak. This one I was able to identify as Mt. Adam.
As I was crawling through a town at 50 kilometers per hour Hayley woke enough to ask for a pee break just as we were passing the 100 sign heading out of town. She managed to open her eyes in time to see the 100 and then told me to never mind as she realized we were leaving the town. I let her go back to sleep and woke her up as the Franz Josef Glacier came into view. Just as she opened her eyes, it disappeared. When we got into the Franz Josef Glacier Village we made a toilet break. Feeling we should buy something from the store we stopped at, we each had a yummy chocolate-covered vanilla raspberry ice cream bar.
With relieved bladders we decided we had the time for a glacial detour. Instead of following State Highway Six we made a left turn onto a dirt road for a scenic ten minute drive to the car park for the Franz Josef Glacier. While on the drive up to the car park Hayley’s camera batteries kicked the bucket. I remembered she had another set of rechargeable batteries and suggested she swap them out. This allowed her to take an additional four photos before they died. With all of Hayley’s batteries down for the count my camera was the only way for us to capture the essence of the Franz Josef Glacier. Satisfied with the images we had gathered we forged onward to the Fox Glacier Village. The final stretch run to our destination, sixteen kilometers of winding road up, down and around, was a dreadful one, as the clouds above grew dark enough to begin dumping rain down upon us. Wanting to just get off the road, the rain made our slow drive even slower. Needless to say, it SUCKED!!!
Having checked into the resort hotel and made our way to the room it is easy to say we were disappointed. It sounded better than it looked. By far this was our least favorite. We received less than expected customer service at check-in and with our follow-up questions, the room was small, the shower curtain stuck to you while showering, there was no place to put anything in the bathroom, there was no place to sit in the room or put your luggage for that matter. The one upside was a guest laundry room.
Following the unloading of the car it was time for food. Since we did not have a lunch we were hungry. We found a place that served up a buffet-like meal that was not all you could eat but did a pretty good job of filling us up. It included what I would say was the second best dessert here in NZ, a pavlova. It was sugar and egg white whipped up then baked, placed on a bed of raspberry sauce then topped with slices of an orange and kiwi fruit, perhaps actually the third best since I had the crème bruelle twice back in Wellington.
As we pulled out of the restaurant we spied the location for tomorrow’s heli-hike. Wanting to be sure it was the proper place and to confirm they still had us down for 9am we parked the car and went in. With confirmation of our check-in time we browsed the gift shop (pre-shopping to save time tomorrow) where I bought a few t-shirts, a book of 1001 things to see in NZ, and a letter opener. After the credit card melted I swapped sides of the street to get disposable batteries for Hayley’s camera so she may take pictures while the rechargeable ones get there overnight dose of juice.
With full bellies settling it was time to walk off the meal and do some scouting for the next morning’s prized photo shoot. We made our way to the car park at Lake Matheson and hiked the half hour to Reflection Island to time out our travels. Due to the cloud cover of the evening Mt. Cook and Mt. Tasman were not visible. In the morning we plan to rise with the sun before breakfast and make the trek again in order to get shots of Mt. Cook and Mt. Tasman reflecting off the mirror-like lake. It is one of the most famous and photographed images in the World, and we want to take it ourselves. Surprisingly, Hayley is all for getting up early to make the shot happen. Sure we could do it tomorrow after our heli-hike of the Fox Glacier, but the lighting is best in the early morning when the sun is shining on the mountains from the east as we gaze upon them from the north.
After returning to the car we made our way back to the hotel. Hayley did a load of jeans in the laundry, we took turns showering, we channel surfed our grand total of TWO channels on television (there were actually three, but the third had the same thing on as one of the TWO), and I wrote up a journal. When the dryer stopped spinning and the dry clothes were back in our room it was time for bed.
Cheers,
Bob & Hayley