New Zealand Turner Track & Hokitika Day While Bound For Glacierland 27Dec22

We grabbed the keen Turner Track before leaving the Punakeiki area. It yielded an awesome hidden beach after a decent tramp through the coastal jungle. Tide was approaching so we could not stay long on the beach that would soon disappear. The trail led us through some more sub-tropical forest area that included the native red pine prized for logging in NZ. It is very tall and of decent girth and very straight... the farming of NZ for red pine is a big industry but I just don't understand why they export logs rather than lumber, or furniture, or other finished finery with greater added value.

We headed to Hokitika to check out the greenstone (jade) and another Natl Pk ~ the Hokitika Gorge NP. NZ greenstone/jade recovery is protected and licenses only to the Maori people ~ no one else can get a license or take raw jade from the area. Maori then sell the raw material to Maori and other "jewlers" who cut/form/polish the stone into finished items. All the greenstone from NZ comes from within 40KM of Hokitika; it comes tumbling down the beautiful Southern Alps catchments (yeah that's river shed or river basin or river drainage in my parlance) inaccessible mostly through steep mountains and dense forests, and much finds its way into the shops in this town. Kala & I visited several to see the pieces and discuss the capture and processes. The finished pieces often mimic the Maori symbols, borrowed from nature, of spirals of new life, waves, mountains, rivers, etc. It is a very cool place.

We moved up toward the mountains following the Hokitika RIver, on a great tip from Gill Hudson, whose mom hailed from Hokitika, to hike the Hokitika Gorge NP. We did and it was totally amazing. First the hike was laid out with stellar Kiwi engineering... solid, flat granite trails, perfectly designed and built walkways over brief gorges, and spectacular suspension bridges over the river. It was flat out amazing work. Second, the glacier-fed aquamarine waters of the river were stunning ~ dunno if there are fish down there but it was very cool. Third, I was with Kala.

We moved on down the coast 3 hours to glacier country in the Westlands. We booked a room for several day in Franz Joseph, a small town near-ish the terminus of the biggest glacier in the Southern Alps. After checking in at Oasis we headed to town to their #1 restaurant, Alice May. It was OK but not great, we may have ordered poorly as the fettuccine carbonara here was too heavy (Kala thought maybe an homage to the Greymouth dairy industry as every spot served it); our other dish was pasta too with prawns & chilis & tomatoes, pretty good. It was a mob scene without any rezs taken.

The Oasis has a free laundry but it should because while you can get nicer, you can't pay more.