Plan C

Fortunately, we had the opportunity to plan a trip in New Zealand including going from Queenstown to Haast on the west coast’s only road (6) and stopping the next night at Franz Josef Glacier north of Haast. Unfortunately, the road west from Queenstown to Haast was closed the day we planned to go. Fortunately, we had rented a car and drove the eight hours to get to the next road north that went to the west coast. Unfortunately, the weather was bad and the roads winding and narrow. Fortunately, we had no other place we could be that day. Unfortunately, the next day, the road from where we were down to Franz Josef was closed, so, we will not be seeing the west coast for now.

Fortunately, this has allowed us to see stunning landscapes , such as the ice blue waters of Lake Papakui (the color of mouthwash, Mary noted) and Lake Tekapo (notice the purple lilys) ; a river called The Roaring Meg (hi to our niece, Meg) ; Castle Hill , a natural(?) rock formation that looks like Stonehenge on steroids and stands on a plateau half a mile up a mountain range (my photos do not do justice); and the Otira Gorge (thanks to Mary for driving the 5 km 16% grade downhill). We also lucked into a fun kitchy restaurant, the Running Duck in Geraldine, and a wonderful stand alone cottage in Oxford to stay in one night. We had the exciting experience for city dwellers of feeding cows and chickens right outside our door.

Today, we decided to stay where we are (Paroa near Greymouth). It’s raining torrentially, so we picked a good day to try to recover from all that driving and having to change plans on the fly. Tomorrow we drive up the coast and inland to stay at Dunpuffin/Dunmovin Cottage (done puffin’, done movin’, get it?) for a long stay and our wine tour in Marlborough, our favorite wine region for sauvignon blancs.

Thanks for reading this far. I’m glad to have the time to make a little longer post. Below is a video of the Running Duck’s bathroom, an unexpected twist in a series of unexpected twists these past couple of days.