Day 17 :: West Coast Drive

Day 17 - West Coast Drive

No specific plans for today. Just another long drive... this time from Franz Josef to Wanaka. It started out as another usuall New Zealand day (from my experience) chilly, overcast and slightly wet. More winding roads followed the coast until I reached the small town of Haast. From there, I started heading west and got my first taste of New Zealand's southern alps. It was glorious. Raging rivers, wide valleys with turquoise streams, steep mountain faces and blue glacial lakes. This reminded me a lot about my second home - Colorado, but with its own flavour of mountain life. Tonight I sleep in Wanaka, a peaceful but modern town (supposed to be "the next Queenstown" for it's adventure).

The photo to the right is of 2 more hitch-hikers I picked up along my 300km drive. About 30km out of town, just outside of the town "Fox Glacier", I found these poor souls on outskirts of nowhere. Somehow they thought they could hike to the trail head of Copland Track (which was actually 21 MORE kilometers from where they were. This pair is Dominik and Sabine from Koln, Germany who moved to Christchurch for a new life.

Unforunately, I won't get to see much of the high snow-capped souther alps... not only due to the summer season, but also because scenic flights are EXPENSIVE. I didn't want my adventures in the mountains to end without a bang. So tomorrow, I go canyoning! Check out what this adventure holds at http://www.deepcanyon.co.nz/