This morning we travelled further down the West Coast before we stopped in the township of Hokitika. I bought Jill a Greenstone as a birthday present. The Maori culture says, you shouldn?t keep your first one, but give it away.
The traces of gold rush that brought thousands to the area in the mid 1800s are still evident in the historic town of Ross, where I took a spot of gold panning. The gold always lays in the bottom and it was harder not to wash it out with the stones than it looked like. In the end I only had a few tiny little pieces of gold left.
After that we headed further south we entered Westland National Park, an area containing numerous scenic lakes, dense forests, many of the Southern Alps highest peaks and two amazingly accessible glaciers.
Arriving in Franz Josef I met Jill in our room, which was a 4-Dorm and really nice with our own bathroom. We had a funny reunion, where we told each other everything about the time we didn?t spend together and decided to book a one-day Glacier Walk for the next day.
With the Magic-Bus we drove the short way to have a look at the Franz Josef from a viewing point.. I?ve seen it on pictures before but its even more stunning in real. A Glacier surrounded by a rain-forest. How unreal?
We had free soup for dinner with our room-mates Jess (USA) and Joe (England). Susanne and Kathrin joined us as well and we played pool before we went out to a bar to celebrate into Jill?s Birthday.