New Zealand Trip - part 2 (final)

PART 2

After 4 days in Queenstown we travelled north, passing by Wanaka / Lake Wanaka, along the West Coast, to spend two nights and a day in Franz Josef. The Frans Josef and Fox Glaciers are unusual for several reasons - first of all they are still there, unlike most of the glaciers Al Gore shows in his movie The Inconvenient Truth! These glaciers are quite spectacular because they descend from the Southern Alps to just 200 metres above sea level amidst the greenery and lushness of a temperate rain forest. The 2 hour hike high up the glacier was truly amazing.

We then continued to Marahua, located at the entry of the Abel Tasman national park. We stayed in a small cottage (Pukeko Cottage) on the farm of Will and Jenny. This was arguably the highlight of our trip - to give you an idea of why it was such a unique location we copied some background info on the farm :

Will’s father built this house in 1962 (in Nelson) for his parents to retire to. In 2003 it was moved here and renovated by Will, to use as a holiday cottage. We manage the orchard organically, originally exporting our produce but now selling to local markets. Main crops are Kiwifruit, plums, pears, apples, mandarins, lemons and Macadamia nuts. All are available to buy in season along with some vegetables and organic free-range eggs.We have recently harvested 4 hectares of pine trees and have replanted with native vegetation to create habitat for native bird life. We have a predator-trapping program in place for possum’s, stoats and rats. As a result, we now enjoy increasing numbers of Kereru (native Pigeon) Tui, Bellbird (Korimako), Fantail (Piwakawaka), Tomtit (Miromiro), Grey Warbler (Riroriro) Kingfisher (Kotare), Morepork (Ruru) and New Zealand Falcon (Karearea). Within his area we have walking tracks that lead to some views that are quite pectacular and well worth the puff to the top!!

We recommend anyone who visits the South Island to stay in Pukeko Cottage. We had breakfast in the same cafe where Matthias and Christine had breakfast a year ago when they visited New Zealand.

We finished our trip in Nelson, a small but pretty town on the Tasman Bay, where we stayed for another 4 days. Some pictures of the final part of our trip can be found here : Pictures