West Coast, NZ

“Travel is about the gorgeous feeling of teetering in the unknown.”

Gaby Basora

Having bought a car for a grand road trip adventure around New Zealand for three months, I did not really consider that maintenance might need to be done on my car. By the end of January, I had driven my car for over 5,000 km (3,100 mi), and I had no idea when the last time the oil was changed. I vaguely remembered the woman who sold me the car saying she did not do any maintenance on it, which would mean it had been over 12,000 km (7,450 mi) since the last oil change. This was slowly worrying me as I continued to drive around the country, but the problem was that every time I did not have an activity planned or even remembered that I needed to do work on the car, it was a Sunday, with no auto shops open. I kept hoping that I could wait it out until I arrived at the next major city because the towns along the West Coast of the South Island were all tiny.

Coastline

I made many stops while driving down the coast to take pictures and enjoy short walks along the beach. The sea was rough on this side of the island, making for thunderous crashing waves at the beach. I loved watching them, though not keen to go swimming.

One of the stops along the way was a natural attraction called Pancake Rocks, where waves and erosion had formed a series of rock formations that resembled pancakes stacked on top of one another. This spot drew in crowds of tourists, which was amusing because I did not observe many cars during my commute. I guess they were all parked at the tourist attractions!

Another stop by the coast was a town called Hokitika, where you would find various art forms on the beach made from dead branches. With the overcast weather, it felt a bit eerie here, and there were much less people around.

After leaving town, I had about an hour left of driving to my next destination. I saw a couple girls on the side of the road looking for a ride, and it seemed like a perfect opportunity for me to pick up some hitchhikers and step out of my comfort zone. They were two 19-year-old German girls, who didn’t speak English very well. I tried to make small talk while driving, but they didn’t really ask me any questions and I felt like an awkward parent interrogating their kids. So after some silence, I just turned on some music and we drove for the next hour listening to that. They were still very grateful for the ride.

Glaciers

Believe it or not, there are glaciers in New Zealand! I’ve always been fascinated by these icy masses, ever since walking on one in Iceland. There are several glaciers on the South Island, and I had plans to visit two of them on the West Coast; Franz Josef Glacier and Fox Glacier. Both of these glaciers can be found near small towns bearing the same names. I dropped the girls off in the town of Franz Josef Glacier, where I would be staying the next couple nights.

Since these glaciers are a popular tourist attraction, the towns were full of people. There are hiking trails that take you to nice viewing areas of the glaciers, but the most up close and personal way to see them is to book a heli-hike tour, which involves a helicopter ride to the top of the glacier with a guided walk. I had booked a flight a couple days ago, but the weather when I arrived in town was not ideal. I hoped the rain and clouds would clear up by the next morning.

Unfortunately, you can’t know if the heli-hike is cancelled or not until about 10 minutes before departure since the weather changes so rapidly around here. My flight to explore Fox Glacier was supposed to depart at 2:30 in the afternoon, and it ended up being cancelled. I rescheduled for the next morning, but the forecast wasn’t looking so good for that day either.

I figured I would still try to see as much of the glaciers as possible, so in the afternoon, I marched on a couple short hikes that take about an hour and a half to viewing points of the glaciers.

I wandered the trails to first Fox Glacier and then later in the evening, Franz Josef Glacier. To be honest, these two hikes were a bit depressing because as you walk along, there are signs indicating where the glacier used to be at certain years in the past. Miles and miles of glacier have disappeared over the last century, especially in the past decade!

These signs also included advice for how people could help combat climate change. As I’ve been traveling around New Zealand, I’ve been conscious of the carbon footprint I’m leaving behind. I try to use as little plastic as possible, and take a reusable bag with me to buy groceries. That is not even really an option, as you have to pay for plastic bags in grocery stores in this country, which I think is a great policy.

In general, I try to keep lights on to a minimum, and I haven’t stayed in any places that use air conditioning. Granted, the summer temperatures here are not unbearable most of the time, but still, leaving windows open seems to do the trick. It is also very rare to see dryers for clothing here; everyone just hangs up their clothes outside to dry. It seems silly to me to think of how dependent we are on dryers back at home, especially in my home state of Colorado where the air is very dry. I know that my driving around the country is not helping the environment, but I do my best to limit driving as much as I can.

That evening, as I was getting ready for bed, another girl joined our four-bedroom dorm, where three of us were already occupying the space. The remaining bed was the top bunk above mine. The newcomer, a Chinese girl who spoke little English, stressfully paced the room and muttered under her breath before bed. Eventually, I asked her what was wrong, and she asked if she could move my luggage over on the floor to a different area, so that she could sleep on the floor, because she was unable to get up on the top bunk. Of course I rejected this offer; I was not going to let her sleep on the floor!

There was a small ledge, and I was able to swing myself to the top bunk, so I switched beds with her. She was incredibly thankful that we made the switch, and I think we all got decent sleep that night. Nobody is a fan of sleeping in the top bunk, but I remembered the struggle I faced in my first hostel where I couldn’t jump to the top bunk and needed to request a ladder, so I was happy to help her out.

That morning, as I suspected, my heli-hike on Fox Glacier was cancelled again due to low clouds and bad visibility. I did not reschedule this time, got my money back, and left town to drive south. My trip to the glaciers went from being very expensive to quite cheap since I didn’t end up doing much!

There were some more beautiful stops along the way, including long rocky beaches with huge waves, and waterfalls all around. The plus side to rain that week? Full-bodied waterfalls everywhere! Every stop was worth it, even in my oil-deprived car.

-Anastasia