Punakaiki - Greymouth - Franz Josef

We got up early to catch our buses. It was a long day of traveling, but a lovely one. We were heading into the mountains along with rivers and valleys.
Andreas and I said our goodbyes to Sergio as we got off at our stop in Punakaiki. We checked into the Punakaiki Beach Hostel which was right on the beach. It had a rustic atmosphere with all the beach wood in the lounge and kitchen. I loved it. And there was only 2 other people in the hostel so we had the bunk room all to ourselves. Nice and quiet and Andreas didn't mind me cranking up the heat.
The town really just consisted of a few beach houses and resorts, 2 cafes, an I-site and gift shop. The main reason people come here is to see the pancake rocks and blowholes at high tide. We arrived just after high tide so we checked out a cavern before checking out the rocks. We were hoping to see some glow worms, and well... we saw 4. Nothing to spectacular, but at least Andreas got to see one before he left the country.
There was a nice walking loop along the shore side to see the pancake rocks. Pretty neat formations. We planned to check them out the next day at high tide before catching the bus out of town to see the blowholes.
After talking to the staff at the I-site, we went on a 3 hour walk up through the forest. More of that lovely subtropical forest with palms, ferns and tall trees. We crossed a suspension bridge over Punakaiki river at the beginning and walked along side the Pororari river on the way out. About half way through, we stopped to take a picture of this big mossy tree over a stream, and as I casually looked back at the trail, there was a flightless bird staring at us. I said "WHAT IS THAT!?" Really excited, thinking "KIWI". But, it was still daylight, so we weren't completely convinced what kind of bird it was. The bird then walked to the side of the trail, pecking at a dead possum, (Umm, strange, aren't Kiwi's vegetarian?) then walked to my backpack and had a nibble. Since it wasn't edible, it took off down across the steam and disappeared into the forest. It started making calls and we heard another answer up behind us. But, after a few minutes, we figured, that was it for the sighting and carried on. Andreas got a video of the bird pecking at my bag, so we thought we'd check with a local what it was once back in town.
Then, once we're along the river we spotted 2 more but with 2 chicks! This family was pretty shy and jumped off into the bushes fairly quickly.
By the time we got back to the hostel, the sun was setting so we had a late dinner and chatted up a nice English fellow before calling it a night.
In the morning, we asked the hostel owner what the bird was, and it was a Weka. Think of it as the New Zealand's "wild chicken." Too bad, not a Kiwi. Oh well, at least it was wildlife, right?
We dropped our luggage off at the cafe in front of the bus stop and went to check out the blowholes. When there was a nice wave surging against the rocks, it would pass under some tunnels and come out the top. Even had a "Chimney". The water vapor would come through this small opening from all the pressure of the surge. Neat stuff.
Our bus came around 12:30 pm and we headed off to Greymouth for a night. We checked into Noah's Ark Backpackers. I liked the animal theme and there was a friendly golden retriever to great you and a shy calico short haired kitty. It was a very clean and spacious hostel. It also had a free hot tub and bikes, so we took the bikes out for a spin to see the town. Greymouth only was one street with shops, so after 15 mins, you've seen everything. We went to the end of town, and biked along a fitness track following along the beach. There was a few day hikes around, but we thought we'd take a break. After the ride we went out to nice cafe for dinner and then watched a movie, with another bunk mate joining us. We watched "Horrible Bosses." It had it's funny moments. Enjoyed it anyway. Then we called it a night.
The next day, I was catching a bus to Franz Josef and Andreas was taking a train to Christchurch as he was heading home the following morning. I accompanied him to the souvenir stores so he could buy gifts for his family. After that, we went to the station and had to say goodbye. I was sad, we'd been traveling for about 9 days together, and were so used to doing all our activities together that it felt strange to part. Who will be my travel buddy now? You never know. It's a small country and you tend to bump into people you've met before :)
It was about a 4 hour ride to Franz Josef. I stayed at the Montrose Backpackers. It was extremely big and the owners were super laid back and friendly. I organized my tour for the next day to do a full day hike up the Franz Josef Glacier and took an early night.
My guided tour with the Franz Josef Glacier Guides started at 9 am so I went over to get all my gear. They gave me a toque, mittens, raincoat, rain pants, socks and boots (but I used my own) and crampons. We started with a 45 min walk from the car park to the bottom of the glacier and walked up an ice mound covered in flinted rock. Once we were on at the top of the mound we strapped on our crampons as it was all ice from there. Had to step with feet shoulder width apart and place feet firmly down, to allow it to catch the ice. It was surprisingly warm with the sun beating down from the cloudless sky. I was able to wear just my t-shirt!
We weaved though the crevasses and narrow channels seeing brilliantly blue ice. There were two areas were water was dripping down and I got a bit wet. That was cold! I made sure to put my raincoat on for the second passing.
We went as as far as a flat plateau where all the clean ice was for lunch before heading back down along the edge with the water flow.
We were able to drink the glacier water. It was so good! We spent a total of 6 hours out of our 8 hour day on the ice.

I made friends with a nice young girl Genevieve (Jinny) from Spain and we planned to meet up after dinner to go to the Glacier Hot Pools since it was included in our tour. We had 2 more people join us, my bunk mate Teng, from Malaysia, and Ernesto, from the USA. What a nice way to relax after the day. The hot pools were gorgeous. They kept it as a natural setting, building around the rocks and trees so the were along side the pools. Great atmosphere.
We all went out to the Blue Ice Bar for a couple drinks and wedges. First time I've seen video games in a pub. Not sure which game system, but it had a sensor to read your body movements. Bowling and soccer were the 2 games that people were playing.
After saying goodnight, Teng and I went back to our room and I thought, since it's supposed to rain tomorrow, it would be best to go on a night walk tonight to try to see glow worms. Teng wanted to join so we left and walked down the Terrace walk in the forest at the end of town. After 8 mins down the track, there was a fallen tree and under all the dirt stuck to the uprooted roots were a little galaxy of glow worms. Just fabulous! We had our lights off and tried to get a couple pictures with the long exposures, but they're really hard to get. Just a bunch of green pinpoints on a black photo. But, at least we enjoyed them as they were. Since it was 1 am, we headed back and went straight to bed.
I met up with Jinny for a bit the following day and showed her where the glow worms were in case she wanted to go see them herself one night. It was pouring rain and a day best spent inside so we arranged to meet up after dinner at 8 pm to watch the rugby game. It was a relaxing afternoon of reading and booking my bus ride and accommodation for the next day, and I soon went to the Monsoon Bar and Restaurant to watch the Scotland vs England match with Jinny.
Today, I caught the bus in the morning to Queenstown. An 8 hour ride. Got in at 4 pm and walked the short distance to Aspen Lodge Backpackers. I like how close to town it is and it's very quiet considering my 10 bed dorm room is full. There's 2 kitchens and plenty of bathrooms. One of my favorite hostels so far. I'm planning on going to Milford Sound tomorrow since it comes highly recommended by my fellow travellers. We'll see how that goes!