Thursday, 3 February 2011

NZ West Coast South Island

Having driven miles to the world renowned Milford Sound, we saw nothing but mist and rain, very similar to the Sound of Mull on a bad day. The road was lined with spectacular waterfalls, one of which descended into an ice pool. We left the voracious sand flies behind and headed to Lake Moke near Queenstown. The next day we did a 5 hour walk to Lake Dispute. On our return, the sunshine lasted long enough for us to have hot solar showers followed by a swim in Lake Moke.
The gas ran out and the new bottle had a different thread for the regulator. Jeremy transferred enough gas for the day from the full bottle using the sink drain pipe. Stan started to misbehave and Jeremy decided the clutch slave cylinder was leaking fluid. This had been confusing because it shared the same reservoir with the brake fluid. Kathy discovered the weather would be good on the next morning, but wet for the next three days. We set off hell for leather for Fox Glacier, after filling the empty gas bottle at a depot. After spending a cold and sand fly infested night by Copland River we made it to Fox Glacier township and went to the garage. The last part was available in Greymouth and the garage could replace the slave cylinder
the following afternoon. We spent a marvellous 2 hours on the glacier wearing crampons and warm weather gear. Em - note Dad's new coat. At 2.00pm it began to rain and continued for 8 solid hours.
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2 comments:

Patrick said...

Happy Birthday Jeremy! We've just spent a morning in crampons and on a glacier too, but half a world away in Chamonix, skiing down the Vallee Blanche. Hope you had a good day yesterday Jerermy. Hope Kathy didn't suggest a bungee jump as your present. Lots of love, Hal and Patch.

Emily said...

Hi chaps,
Great photos & enjoying the short, witty new style of the blog.
Very pleased to see dad has a new jacket, but a bit embarrassed that you have stolen one from the Fox Glacier Gift Shop!
I remember the all-day walk and bitter disappointment of the fossilised tree on Mull - it's a great ruse by the Tourist Board.
Hope Stan gets better soon.
Love Ems xx