Last day in NZ

So Thursday I got up early and went to see the Fox Glacier in the rain. Quite impressive and I wished I had had more time to hike on it at well. But I was off to the Copland trail that lead up to natural hot springs. I thought it might be a cake walk since the destination sounded pretty cushy, but it turned into a proper kiwi tramp, up creek beads, over roots and across suspension bridges. But the rain cleared up and I made it to the cabin just at dusk. Strangely enough the only other people there were a group of American college students from Ohio on some sort of regimented "outdoor leadership" program, so basically I had the hot pools to myself. And wow, were they nice to slip into! Very hot and quite comfy. But later that night it poured and I got worried about the river fords that I had to cross and the danger that I might have to stay an extra night at the cabin. Sure enough, the rivers and creeks were in flood conditions and just barely crossable, but it was wet, wet, wet, slogging through tons of water with wet feet the whole day. Not the most fun, but authentically New Zealand. Can't have rain forest without rain.

That evening I was bushed and decided to spend the night in Fox Glacier town. It was great tho get a hot shower and some warm clothes. Then yesterday I drove through the Southern Alps to Christchurch. The mountains were really nice and I wished I had more time to do some tramps there. I could imagine how Hillary could train for Everest there. Have to go back next time. At one of the rest stops in the mountains, there were two Kea hanging out, which are the world's only alpine parrot. Very funny looking birds and quite tame. They must have been looking for handouts.

Christcurch is another sprawl of a city, but the city center is quite nice, very English. Last night I hung out a local brew pub and watched the rugby game. Chirstchurch beat the Sydney team and won the championship so everyone was in high spirits and it was actually a fairly competitive game.

So later this afternoon I fly back to Auckland and catch my flight home. Actually I'm sort of looking forward to it, but at the same time could se staying longer as well. Oh well, se everyone soon