Glaciers, Rain, Gold, Rain, Hot Springs, Rain, and Christchurch

After seeing what remains of the two famous glaciers in New Zealand we still had some real time to spend before our departing flight so we made it a point to stop at every tourist destination we could before arriving at christchurch. This involves a number of daywalks and conservation campsites along the way.

After the glaciers, we headed back to Greymouth, the town we had originally planned on returning to when the bridge collapsed in Arthur's Pass. From there we went north to reefton which was founded on (and still is) gold mining. We learned all about how gold was extracted from rock when it is taken out of the earth 50 years ago. This process is entirely run off of a stream and would let mercury run into the river. They had to build a mental health assylum in a neighboring town from the mercury poisoning.

From Reefton we continued eastward and over Lewis pass. When we were on this pass we recieved another dangerous amount of rain and feared that our campsite would be washed away by the near by river. We were fortunate enough to be spared from this. We saw some more beautiful mountains just in time for our primary digital camera to break.

Just over the pass is a town called Hanmer Springs. Just like all the other natural wonders of New Zealand, the locals have taken control and charge you money to enjoy them. There is a resort that charges you $18 to take advantage of the natural hot pools. Although you would never know they were natural because it is built like a modern spa. There were a number of different pools with different temperatures and minerals that are supposedly good for your skin.

After a day at hanmer springs, we decided it was time to sleep in a real bed for a while and sell our car. We drove into Christchurch and forgot that they had a 7.2 magnitude earthquake just four months ago so half of the accomodation buildings were closed and the other half were entirely booked. This put us back in the tent for another couple of days staying behind a motel on a small patch of grass with a couple of other travellers who had the same problem.

While living in the tent we were able to sell our car for $500 which is about what we were expecting to get for it. We finally got a room in a building and after two nights we were woken up to a magnitude 4 earthquake which we are told happens about every couple of weeks. Now we are just waiting out our time in Christchurch and preparing for Thailand and the rest of SE Asia. Our next entry may very well be from there.