The Swanson's New Zealand Trip

West Coast of South Island: 16-18 May

The West Coast of the South Island is a most remarkable place. Far from "civilization" (i.e., crowded cities), its people are very self-sufficient and proud of it. More remarkable is the fact that so few tourists visit these beautiful places. We're really happy that we were among the few that did.

Our West Coast trip started when we arrived at the Greymouth Station, the western terminus of the TranZ Alpine Express. There we boarded an InterCity coach for the trip to Fox Glacier, our first night's stop. The trip was, to say the very least, interesting! Our driver, Ian, was a bit on in years, but that didn't slow him down any. In fact, he tooled that coach down the (wrong side of) the road as if it were a sports car. We were really testing the strength of the seat's arm rests when he took some of the curves. He also proved that ole adage about the "rule of gross tonnage" as he bullied his way onto the many one lane bridges along the route. Two of the bridges were one lane dual use, i.e., road & rail traffic. Fortunately, no trains came along as Ian would have probably tried to bully them too...

On the West Coast the InterCity coach is an essential source of transportation, both for people and goods. The coach's luggage compartments were packed full of freight and groceries for the people living along the road. In addition, the coach was also the means by which the newspapers get delivered. That's right, delivered by Ian tossing the newspaper out of the coach's window as he blew by @ 100km/hr!

Bob was reminded of the California and Oregon coasts, as we sped along. We had a clear day, which is not common. During the summer, this place is among the wettest in New Zealand. Don't worry, we got plenty of rain the next day!

Right around dusk we arrived at Fox Glacier, where we spent two days. It was a very restful interlude, but we were disappointed that we couldn't get to see the glacier itself. The glacier is quite a ways out of town and the only tours required that we get into full ice-climbing gear and "tramp" on the glacier itself, something we didn't care to do (we might've hurt it!) So, we just lazed around Fox Glacier until it was time to continue with the Queenstown portion of our trip. During this visit, we discovered the very civilized interval called "tea time".

The "thumbnails" following this narrative are a select subset of our West Coast images. They may be "enlarged" by clicking on them with your mouse pointer. Enjoy!

Our InterCity Coach (note SS in window)	Small town pride... Hokitika's Town Bells	Ian delivering newspapers from the InterCity coach	Bob on the coach	Franz Josef Glacier with Southern Alps
Franz Josef Glacier	Our Fox Glacier hotel room	Bob enjoying a "cuppa" tea in our Fox Glacier hotel room	Our Fox Glacier hotel	Southern Alps from Fox Glacier

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