Cliff hanger

AWESOME! The helicopter ride up and around the glaciers was FANTASTIC! First of all the exciting experience of being in a helicopter for the first time. To be up in the air, just like that. Then the AMAZING scenery of mountains, ice, snow, rock face. The sheer power of nature. Ice that moves rocks, that tears rocks, that reduces huge boulders into nothing but rubble. Majestic, dangerous and thrilling. It was a 40 minute trip which included the Fox Glacier, the Franz Josef Glacier and Mount Cook (the highest peak in Australasia at 3755m) and included a descent onto snow for some more photo opportunities. The whole trip felt like 5 minutes. The best bit for me was when I got to sit in the front of the helicopter on the way back. I was leaning so far forward I'm glad there was a windscreen (and seat belt)! It felt like if I just reached out I could gently caress these brutes of nature. You could really see how these glaciers had shaped surrounding scenery, creating valleys, lakes and rivers (and well as the local economy...)

Slightly shaken (and "sea" sick) from our airborne adventure, we continued our way up the west coast from Franz Josef to Westport and then to Motueka - our final destination. Another 500kms, and for the first time so far, we drove in the dark for about an hour - a great shame considering the potentially beautiful scenery. But one thing we did see on the way where the pancake rocks of Punakaiki. Geologists actually don't know how these rock formations have been created, but suspect that two different layers of stone were formed at the same time - one susceptible to erosion and the other one not. Over time, one layer was eaten away by wind, sea, rain, waves while the other remained intact. The result are these columns of rocks which look like pancakes. All set in a very well organized park with surrounding greenery, and a cafe which served (coincidentally?!) pancakes!

Note on the local (north of the south island) wildlife:
- we were hoping to contribute to the local possum problem (they are considered pests, and are also the most common type of roadkill). Unfortunately although we did spot 2, they comfortably escaped the wheels of the car...
- on the other hand, based on the display on our windscreen (almost sounded like hail!), we did do something for the local fly, moth and mosquito population...