November 1st

Wendy: My shoulder continued to be sore, so I took a trip to the local glaciers while the boys went boating. I did a guided glacier walk on the Fox glacier, me and 30 other tourists. There was the British family with young kids who cried off and on all afternoon, the Chinese dude who had to stop every hour to comb his hair, and the Scottish family who talked about pubs and smoking throughout the hike. Nothing like being a tourist again! We started at the glacial moraine, and hiked the side of a ridge which was snow covered 5 years ago, but is now barren. The glacier has retreated several hundred feet in the past 5 years, and has retreated over 1km since the late 1700's.

Andy and I stayed at the Kapatea lodge, a beautiful bed and breakfast on a cliff overlooking the ocean. The hosts offered to make dinner for the group, so we all met in the evening for a gourmet sunset dinner. Drinks and horsdourves by the outdoor fire led to a 3 course delicious dinner, complete with local venison, pork, chicken and quiche served in a variety of tasty ways. This place is the closest we've come to the Lord of the Rings actors, as they were here recently during the filming of the recent movie. Legend has it that one of the hobbits slept in our bedroom!

Andy: More excellent boating on the Lower Perth - our hardest New Zealand run yet, and good fun. Today's run included some rescue excitement as well. It was clear from scouting one rapid that the only option was to punch a big, recirculating hole and hope to get through it. If you didn't get through it, there was no way you were exiting in your kayak - the hole was just too sticky. And then the swim was ugly - first into an undercut, and if you survived that, a heinous 200 yard swim guaranteed to land you in a tree. That was my worst nightmare.

Chris, Peter, and Louie all cruised the rapid. I was ready for my attempt, but Ian valiantly jumped in front to give it a go.

Unfortunately, he lived out my worst nightmare - swimming out of the hole, glancing off the undercut, bouncing down 200 yards of hard rapids out of his boat, and then wrapping himself into a tree. Yuck. He was stable, with his head above water, but couldn't safely climb up the tree and out of the water. Some quick, heroic, and fancy rope work by Kiwi Chris rescued Ian from the tree and we continued on down. Ian's one durable Brit!

Wendy, at the "summit" of the glacier walk. Notice the old fashioned ice axe!

The glacier covered both the foreground and the ridge in the background, as recently as 50 years ago.

The great view (and bright lichen) at the Lower Perth put-in

One of the nasty undercut rapids on the Lower Perth. Don't follow the water under the boulder!

More fun boulder rapids

The traditional post-kayaking pub near Hokitika, and Chris' well loaded van (6 kayaks and 6 kayakers). And we wonder why we lost a boat from the roof????

Our group at the Kapitea Lodge for dinner. That's the ocean behind us!
L to R: Andy, Steve, Kiwi Chris, Kiwi Louie, Wendy, Peter, and Ian

December 22th - Fox Glacier Hike &Kayak the Lower Perth River & Dinner at the Kapitea Lodge