Our trip took us along the coast of the Tasmanian Sea. It was absolutely gorgeous.
See how close the ocean actually is to the road? There were road signs telling motorists to watch for debris.After a few hours of driving Jacob and I made it to the parking lot before heading out to the glacier. This is the before picture (it was a bit cold/rainy... beautiful day for a hike =P )
We had to hike through a small forested area for a little bit before we could see the glacier. Once we got through the brush and could see it, I was a bit relieved. It doesn't look THAT far, right?
And then we made it down to ground level, and suddenly the trip looked a lot more strenuous. We were told by some older lady sitting on a bench that it was 2.5 km out (1.5 miles). We didn't really believe her, but then we started walking... and I think she was pretty much right on.
With the exception of the rain/mist coming down on us, the walk wasn't that bad. It was gravel/rocky, but the path was outlined clearly and we only had to cross one stream via rock steps. (with my luck, I was SOO glad that I didn't fall in!)
There were also a couple of waterfalls along the way, so, of course, we had to stop for some photo ops! =)
Finally, we made it out there!
I think I mentioned before that Jacob has been to New Zealand before. When he was in middle school his family took a month-long vacation over the Christmas holiday and traveled the south island. On a trip out to the glacier, Jacob and his brother crossed under the security rope so that their parents could take a photo of them standing next to the face. Right after the photo was snapped, part of the glacier collapsed... almost on top of the boys, who had to run to get out of the way. Why Jacob would want to return to the place he almost died, I have no idea... but he did. lol
Sad thing is, I wasn't particularly impressed with the glacier. It just wasn't as cool as I was expecting it to be. I know that they do a lot of heli-hikes on the glacier, and i think maybe that would have been a little more impressive to me than just walking up to the small face of the thing. Maybe next time. =)
Have the glacier, we headed out to find somewhere to camp for the night. We ended up at the Rainforest Retreat. It's kind of funny to me that there are rain forests and glaciers within 10 minutes of each other but, in a way, I guess it makes sense!
After we settled into our site we went to the retreats bar/restaurant for dinner--they had a backpacker special that we wanted to take advantage of. =) We approached the bar and the bartender took a look at my SFU sweatshirt and immediately asked if I was from Canada! I was surprised that anyone would recognize those particular initials on the other side of the world! But, apparently he was Canadian himself and hailed from Montreal. Just shows what a small world it is, I guess. =)
After dinner we settled into our van for the night to get a little R and R before heading back to Wanaka the next day. That evening I pulled out our travel guides to see if there was anywhere along the route that we should stop, and I read about Monro Beach--the book said it was a great beach that not many tourists visited, and that it was a good place to spot penguins, so we decided to check it out.
When we got there the next morning we were surprised to find that the beach was a 90 return trip hike from the parking lot, through the rain forest... but we decided to go ahead and give it a go.
It was gorgeous. First time I've ever been in a forest like this.
Proof that there should have been penguins! We never did see any there =(
Where the ocean meets the rain forest.
Monro Beach on the Tasmanian Sea
Jacob and I LOVE the ocean/beach (which should be obvious to all by now). And I was really happy to have experienced this one. The ocean was not like any that I'd seen before. If I had to explain it, "angry" would be the word that comes to mind. The waves coming onto the beach were rough and unpredictable. At one point we had to run for higher ground when a wave decided to come about 15 feet closer in than any other. But even though the water had a mind of it's own (and there were a TON of bugs), it was still a very magical experience for me. And we didn't see a single soul until we started the hike back. =)
We headed back to Wanaka after our beach visit, but here's one last photo for you. We passed a number of one lane bridges that we had to cross, but this one was SOO long that there was actually a passing lane in the middle! I just had to share. =)
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