Weather - Partially Cloudy & warm
We had a late start today so no rushing for a change, although we were awake fairly early & headed off to breakfast around 7.30. Then I made use of the time to sit in the hotel foyer & upload the previous 2 blog entries, thanks to their 30 minutes/day free Internet. I am also aware there will be no Internet service on Saturday when we visit & stay at the Glaciers as the West Coast of NZ is fairly primitive.
All aboard the coach & on the road just after 9am. A little sad to leave beautiful Queenstown, it is such a great place and we really enjoyed our time there. The weather has remained very good, which always helps.
First stop was at a beautiful lake where Phil, our tour guide took group photos with individual cameras & then we all took our own photos of the scenery. Next we had a coffee break as a huge fruit shop. All sorts of local fresh fruit which was nice, especially the samples! Lunch was a quick stop near Haast & the beautiful Haast River.
This is where we decided to raise the adrenalin level a notch or two & chose an optional jet boat safari ride on the Haast River. Luckily we didn't discover until we were aboard that this river had reached its 2nd highest level ever just 2 days ago due to the recent flooding in the South Island. The water level rose from 1 to almost 7 metres & the width was amazing & it was still flowing really rapidly. The coach dropped us off at a designated spot and then proceeded on its way ready to meet us down river.
Well our 1 hr ride covered almost 50 Kim's and ranged from flat out fast (approx 60k/hr) & almost stopped when the driver pulled up close to the shore & gently rotated the boat so we could take photos. Then it would take off really quickly & spin 360 degrees at breakneck speed. I absolutely loved it & so did Mike. We were wearing life jackets and told to hold on really tight, just as well as it would have been easy to get flung into the water! We had an absolute ball, me screaming as usual apparently.
The coach was waiting at our drop off point and we paid for our trip, went to the bathroom (really necessary) and boarded the coach. There were 15 of us in total which was pretty much the number the boat could take. Next we headed to Fox Glacier where we were allowed off for a photo shoot, then on to Franz Josef Glacier where we dropped off a few people for a helicopter flight, then just 2 minutes drive to our hotel. Amazingly the sun was out and it was beautiful and warm. Lots of people about this afternoon in this pretty little town.
Our hotel was really nice and right in the centre of town. We did our quick basic unpack, freshened up and headed to the (recommended by Phil) pub just on the corner nearby. It was a Speights bar/restaurant & very busy, however we found a table outside and had 2 pints of beer each. Phil, our tour guide joined us for the last one. Then we walked back to our hotel for the included dinner. Tonight was al a carte and pretty good food, so now 9.40pm & we are back in our room finishing a bottle of wine we opened yesterday.
I cant believe this is our 2nd last night of the tour & our holiday. Tomorrow night we will be back in Christchurch for our farewell dinner.
Don't take any notice of the numbering of days on this tour, which I have been writing on each blog entry. I have messed up big time somewhere as this is a 17 day tour & I have only made It to 14!
Will probably send this from Christchurch on Sunday/Monday as Internet here is scratchy at best.
More tomorrow.
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