West Coast of the South Island

We left Christchurch and drove through Arthur's Pass to the west coast.  The drive started through in  pastoral, fertile scenery on a two lane road (rarely did we see 4 lanes on our whole trip).  At the actual pass there were a few commercial places but not many.  We stopped and had lunch which was very ordinary, English-blah...not that all English food is blah, this just was.

The highway after the pass was incredible and of course, just two lanes.

Our final destination for the day was Hokitika where we had our nicest hotel booked.  Right on the water.  On the way there we took a detour that should have taken us to Greymouth, a slightly bigger town than Hokitika but the road was closed.  When we did get to Greymouth we could have been somewhere on the Oregon coast, businesses trying to hang on with the tourists, mixed in with ones that catered to residents.  The virus was all over the news so but not desperate yet but the town felt desolated.  We had at this point, already rebooked our April 5th return flight for March 22nd which turned out to be fortuitous as NZ closed their borders the following day.

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The town of Hokitika was more quaint than Greymouth with more of a Cannon Beach vs Seaside, OR feel.  It was St. Patrick's Day and there was a bit of the ol' green to be seen.  The restaurant we had dinner had a tavern-feel on one side and patio-feel on the restaurant side.  Funny, every restaurant we ate at, we had to go and order our meal at the cashier.  Not sure if that is the NZ way or virus related.  We met a nice couple from Australia who recounted their virus-related stories.  Also, biggest news flash...I had the BEST beer of the trip here!

The Glow Worms are throughout NZ.  Right across from our hotel we walked up a hill, just after sunset and saw the glowing worms.  Kind of a green phosphorescence glow.  What are glow worms?

Queenstown - March 17, 2020

Queenstown is a resort town on Lake Wakatipu.  It is surrounded by mountains.  Trying to say what town it is like many places could come to mind but really it has aspects of other outdoorsy towns but is it's own place.
Rory's brother, John-Joseph (aka JJ) and girlfriend Annie live here.  The photo on the bottom right is a view from their house. Unfortunately while we were there both were talking about how long their jobs would last.  The closing of NZ borders was days away.  The restaurant we went to was closing in two days.  Bazaar was a high end buffet, made-for-you restaurant with a gorgeous backdrop of Lake Wakatipu.  The food was delicious!

Me, Ron, John-Joseph, Annie, Rory and Madeleine

Fun night...I like this photo better!

The streets were fullish but for a weekend day, in nice weather, it was typically much more crowded.  We got a burger at Fergburger.  Typically the queue was so long, Rory and Madeleine had never waited.  The queue was tolerable so we ordered and waited...still 20 minutes but not bad.  Delicious burger by the way!

We walked around the town when we arrived on Thursday night and again Friday morning.  I didn't capture the feel of it with photos but then again with the virus dominating the news it did not feel normal.  I'd definitely want to go back.  There's lots of outdoor sports that start from here.  There's a young person's vibe...that vibe to see the world and settle for a few months that the Commonwealth Working Holiday Visa affords.

These statues greet you at the Queenstown Airport ZQN
They are reminiscent of North American natives