Travel Journal:

New Zealand - Gorges and gold and glow worms, oh my!


Gorges and gold and glow worms, oh my! 2006-11-19
 
I had the best night of sleep. I didn't get up until 8:30 too. I made myself some eggs and toast for breakfast (it's sunday!). A little before 10am I went and paid for a second night ($15). Then I got my act together and headed out.

I swung through town to see if the jade carving place was open, it wasn't. It was also looking pretty rainy but I figured I should get out  anyway. My first target was the Hokatika Gorge, however the maps I had sucked and I missed it twice. Since I was on Rt 6 going south anyway I decided to visit Ross, an old mining town.

I parked by the visitor's center and did the Ross Water Race walkway. It's about an hours walk and it takes you up into the hills wehre they did gold mining. It was pretty cool and very pretty. They had some houses and stuff you could go into too. I enjoyed the walk and seeing some of the mine shafts and what's left of the water race. After that I headed back determined to find the Gorge.

This time I went all the way back to town and finally got on the right road. I spent about 25 minutes driving through farms before I got there. Now the cool thing about this gorge is the swing bridge. Oh yeah, I said swing bridge!

It only takes a couple of minutes to get to the bridge from the parking  lot. I was a bit disappointed at how sturdy and modern it looked. Not quite as adventuresome as I had hoped. The river underneath was also a strange greyish aqua; the sort of color water you see in quarries. As I  walked across the bridge it did bounce and sway a bit. Then I followed the walk to some rocks on the river and scrambled over them a bit. Then I went back to my car. I stopped at a bush walk and picnic area and made a sandwich for lunch.

I went into town to see most things closing. I drove over to the Quay and walked on the beach. It was so weird. The beach is quite wide and the whole thing was covered in driftwood. It looked like some odd tree cemetary. I noticed on one of the signs a bit about a lighthouse on "Seaview". I stopped at the store on the way back to get some ice for my cooler. When I got back to the holiday park it was actually warm and sunny. Hallejuah!

While I was rearranging things in the car I looked up and noticed what looked like a light house. I pulled out a map to figure out how to get up there and it looked like the road should be right near where I was. I got in the car and found the road which had a sign welcoming you to the "seaview hotel". The lighthouse wasn't very impressive and was closed off so I just took a few photos for my mom. There was a nice view off to the side.

When I got back I wanted to enjoy the sun so I took out a chair and did some knitting. Then I walked over to the beach but it was windy so I came back. I eventually made chicken satay and rice for dinner. I was going to walk to the beach for sunset but it didn't look like it was going to be anything good.

When it got to be dark I walked over to the Glow Worm cave, which was right across the street. Glow worms are actually the larvae of some carnivorous bug. This was pretty cool. As you walk up the hill you see tons of tiny glowing spots. It looks like someone stuck leds all over the place. It's amazing.

I came back down and put a load of laundry in. Yay for non mud caked jeans.

I think I have campervan envy.
 
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