Day 7 Franz Joseph to Haast

We got up early so Alastair could show us around his farmette. He has 3 sheep dogs he brought with him when he sold his farm. We got to see one of them work as it herded a group of sheep close so we could feed them. One of his dogs is a Huntaway, a much larger and stronger breed than the collies you usually see herding sheep. It was a treat to watch him jump the fence.

Before we left Oak Lodge I had the opportunity to get a massage. Robin did a great job in getting the stitch out of my shoulders and relaxing my back muscles.

We got out of Greymouth about 10 headed for the glacier region. As we left town we experienced one of New Zealand's bridges that is used for both train and auto traffic. It is a one lane bridge with rail running over it. It was strange for us as we rode up on the bridge and suddenly realized we had to stay between the tracks or be in danger of losing it. About an hour down the road it started to rain steadily and we stopped to put our rain gear on. There was some winding road on the way to Franz Joseph Glacier but we forged on through the rain and it had let up by the time we reached the village at the entry to the glacier. Like other glaciers the world over this one is shrinking. Global Warming? We took a brisk uphill walk to view Franz Joseph before getting back on the road down the mountain. It started to rain again as we had a tense trip down the twisty road. Eventually, the rain let up and we found ourselves at rocky beach with waves crashing. We found hundreds of rock stacks visitors had create along the shoreline.

As we continued we once again rose high above the sea revealing more wonderful views. As quickly as we had ascended, we descended finding ourselves on a broad plain. Our stop for the night was at Haast home to the Haast World Heritage Hotel, and little else. We had a nice room and were once a gain treated to some fine Kiwi hospitality.

We particularly enjoyed watching the locals downing pint after pint, getting louder and more boistrous as the evening wore on. We had a fine dinner of venison salad and a seafood platter of scallops, mussels, squid and whitebait. Naomi, a sweet young lady from Toronto, brought up to speed on the the controversy surrounding the chemical 1080 which is used extensively in NZ to control the possum population and prevent the transmission of bovine TB, but is destructive to bird life. We also learned a little bit about cricket which is seemingly being played shown on every telly in every pub in the country. The little bit we learned did little to help us understand the sport. David asked the bartender, "why do they run with there bats?" He looked at us like we were crazy and said what else are they going to do with it." After dinner we went to our room and watched a movie before returning for a nightcap. The same guys were there downing beer after beer. How they made their way home, I have no idea.