[update: finally found the picture of the lake]
Got breakfast at … the McDonalds in Greymouth, because that is the place that had the wireless internet. Go figure. Several older people hanging out with laptops there, which was weird.
Today was the big drive back east across the island to Christchurch to return the campervan and fly to Auckland. The drive was uneventful, except for when we had to drive through a treacherous gorge that was part of the pass (“Arthur’s Pass”) through the mountains. There had been signs for an hour discouraging people from towing a trailer through the pass. On our way into the mountains we were passed by ambulances and fire engines with sirens blaring. AN HOUR LATER we reached the gorge, where a sedan towing a trailer had hit the guardrail and nearly plunged to their deaths. It was an extremely remote place, just about the worst part of the entire pass, certainly with no cell phone coverage, and we wonder how long the accident wreckage was in place until word reached the emergency services to fire up their engines. As we passed them, finally, we all glowered at the college-aged morons who had created their own misery … The picture above was taken right after we reached the top of the pass, only a minute after getting past the accident site. That’s a permanent snowcap at the top of the mountain.
Then we passed through the very arid region east of the mountain peaks, which provide more starkly beautiful views, including this one of a small lake with whitecapped waves on it because the wind was so strong! Below is a 360-degree panorama, which Chris likes doing if only to watch Sharon roll her eyes. Obviously you can’t make out much in this web version, even if you click below to get the enlarged version … At full resolution they are stunning … we’ll have to get these printed as blowups.
After plowing through Christchurch city traffic (it was a Friday afternoon, after all), we returned the van, went to the airport to check in our bags and walked over to the Antarctic Center which is next to the airport. Christchurch is basically the traffic hub for travel (of scientists) to all points in Antarctica, including all US traffic to McMurdo Station and the South Pole station. So they have a tourism operation set up there at their headquarters with a museum that explains all about life in the Antartic (human, penguin and otherwise). It was OK, but Chris was underwhelmed. Sharon perused the gift shop most of the time.
On the short flight from Christchurch back up to Auckland, we managed to see several South Island sights again from high up, including the Kaikoura peninsula and Marlborough Sounds (through which our ferry had sailed a week ago). Then as we flew over the North Island, we peered through a door window porthole to catch a glimpse of Mount Egmont, which is a volcano with the classic conical shape (click here for pictures of what Mt Egmont looks like, much better than the blurry, distant view that we got)..
Arrived in Auckland, checked into the hotel and relaxed with a real bed and shower!
One last day of sightseeing on Saturday, and then in the evening the long flight back to Atlanta begins!
More funny names: Crippletown, Mount Doris, Cape Foul Wind, Condies Head, The Remarkables, Mount Awful.