Day 4: Thursday, February 28, 2002
Driving up the West Coast

It was raining hard today when we woke up. That was okay cuz it was mainly a driving day. We were taking two days to get from the Queenstown area to Nelson in the north, stopping along the west coast. We were aiming for a town called Hokitika because Frommer's said it was the town on the west coast for crafts. If we had time to walk to either Fox or Franz Josef Glaciers we would, but we'd seen plenty of glaciers in Alaska so it wasn't critical for us.

It was the first time I'd had to drive in hard rain, so I tried to be especially careful. Still, Walendo was jumpy and kept telling me to be careful. I didn't mind a little warning of hazards but it was a little too much. He backed off and we found a happy medium.

A. J. Hacket bungee jump launch

On the road out of town, we went by the bridge where they bungee jump, and it looked like there were people jumping, so we stopped to take a look. Despite the rain, there were people jumping and a bunch of people watching from the side. They had a whole platform setup on the bridge (which apparently they hadn't had when Walendo had jumped years ago — he had to walk out on a wooden plank). A couple was jumping together when we got there. It took them a while to gather up the nerve but they finally jumped. I thought if I ever did it, I'd want to do it together with Walendo. Much too scary. We watched another guy go, and he didn't seem scared at all. As soon as he was set up, he jumped, no big deal. It was interesting to see (but not very tempting).

Lunch cafe in Wanaka

After that we just drove a bunch, backtracking through part of the way we'd came and then splitting off toward Wanaka. They say Wanaka is a much calmer, less touristy Queenstown, much like Queenstown had been years ago. I would have liked to have stayed there, but it wasn't well located for going to the fiords. We did make a pit stop there to get lunch and check email. It looked like a nice town, probably worth a stay. It was drizzling now, not pouring any more. We first went to the internet cafe and even though they had about 30 stations, it was all full and there was a waitlist. So we got on the waitlist and then went to call ahead for a hotel in Hokitika so again we wouldn't have to rush. We called one with an 800 number because they don't have coin phone booths here — you have to buy a phone card at a newsshop. Unfortunately they were booked, so we did get a phone card and called the Jade Court Motor Lodge and reserved a room. Now we could take our time.

Wanaka wool shop

That was good because we found a lot to do in Wanaka. After checking email, we walked down the block and got a nice sandwich lunch at a cafe. Walendo had a flat, crunchy chicken, brie, cranberry sauce panini. I had quiche. Both were very good. Then I got chocolate ice cream, which was pretty good. On the walk there, I noticed a wool shop, so we stopped there on the way back. They had some nice sweaters and skeins of wool. I'd decided I would buy some wool so I could knit myself a sweater when we got home. I ended up getting a nice wool hat and gloves for mom, and a dark blue sweater for Judy. Then I bought wool for me. The store owner was very helpful, indicating how many skeins I needed of different types of wool, which was great. Then when we went to pay, she was very patient about figuring out whether it was cheapter to ship (with no GST) or take the stuff with us (with GST but no shipping). Eventually, we figured out that it was better to just take it with us. Walendo was also very nice about being patient as I shopped.

For part of that time, Walendo went to a sporting goods store, where he saw video for fly fishing in New Zealand. He tried to buy it as a gift for Peter, but it turned out they couldn't find the tape. They were displaying the case in the window but they didn't have the tape. The sales woman was embarrassed. But it was PAL format rather than NTSC, so it wouldn't have worked anyway. Instead Walendo got bug spray, which worked out well later on.

Right of way sign showing this direction has ROW. (Inset at upper right shows sign indicating other direction has ROW.)

We hit the road again, having spent a couple of hours in Wanaka. It was early afternoon and we still had a lot of driving ahead, so we just drove. After a while, the weather suddenly cleared up, which made the driving a little less tense. There were still lots of curves, so I had to concentrate all day. Walendo helped by noting when bridges were coming. This is important because many of them are single lane. They have an interesting system where the sign indicates who has the right of way. If someone is already on the bridge then the other side has to stop before entering the bridge, but if there are people coming in both directions, the one who does not have the right of way has to stop while the other one crosses. This seemed to work pretty well, given that there aren't many cars. If there's a really long bridge then they have intermediate passing areas and you can go through one segment at a time observing the right of way. (One bridge had three segments and we couldn't even see to the other side, so it was good they had the intermediate stops.)

Jade Court Motel, Hokitika

Our room at Jade Court Motel

By the time we got to the glaciers it was fairly late, so we decided not to stop for a visit. We did take a driving break by one of the bridges and Walendo got some glacier rocks for the fountain. (We're going to have a suitcase full of rocks when we return, oy vey.) There's also another attraction on that road called the pancake rocks, which are a series of flat disc-shaped rocks piled on each other. Walendo had seen it last time he was here and flatly ruled out going again, just not worth the time. As we drove, Walendo kept looking for a small town he'd gotten stranded in last time he was here but he never recognized it. Sometimes I wonder if he was really here at all!

Trapper's Restaurant, Hokitika

Finally we arrived in Hokitika at about 7pm. The Jade Court Motor Lodge turned out to be very nice. The room was large, they had a whole kitchen area and a large bathroom with a spa, very nice. All for NZ$110 (US$45), how nice! After settling in, we walked into town (5 minute walk). As you enter town, there's a Town Hall building with a giant pig on the top, which was a big odd. The town wasn't closed up the way some towns have been, which was nice. First we stopped at Millie's Restaurant, a family diner-type thing. I wasn't up for hearty food so we continued on. Despite Walendo's skepticism, we found a very nice restaurant called Trapper's. The outside looked like a rugged hunting-style restaurant, but the inside was more elegant. Our meals were quite good. An appetizer of freshly baked bread (which we had to order, oddly), then I had lasagna and Walendo had rack of lamb, and then we had dessert, a chocolate pudding/cake thing that was yummy but I was too full to finish it, and a strawberry cheesecake for Walendo. Plus Walendo had a beer and we later had tea & coffe and it all came to US$30. I love the exchange rate here.

On the way back we walked out to the ocean and listened to the pounding waves and then meandered back to our rooms. We saw some of the craft shops as we walked around and now I'm psyched to go out craft shopping tomorrow morning. After that, we'll head up to Nelson.

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