Our Time in India: New Zealand- part 3

We traveled from Nelson to Franz Joseph Glacier....a long day but it was fortunately filled with lots of beautiful stops. We drove past beautiful vineyards. Evidently the vines that are close to being ready to harvest are covered with netting to keep the birds out. We did see some grapes being harvested on the east coast but failed to get a photo of it. Our first stop was the Buller Gorge Swingbridge near Murchison where we walked across a suspension bridge. The river was very beautiful and the trails were fun to hike on. We saw a very old mining shaft. One interesting sight were twin waterfalls that are from the epicenter that produced the 1929 earthquake. The boys enjoyed riding the flying fox back across the gorge. We continued our drive toward the west coast. I was finally at the wheel, learning how to drive on the wrong side of the road (uhm..I mean the left side). I was driving along when suddenly the I was on a very curvy one lane road. I hit the brakes as I didn't remember seeing a sign for a one lane bridge. One lane bridges are extremely common and a bit scary when you can't exactly see what is around the corner. Well, I stopped and Ted woke from his sleep and helped me out. We saw a mirror up ahead that showed the rest of the curve and we fortunately made it to the other side! This section of the road I believe is called Hawks Crag. Another very interesting one way bridge we went on shared the bridge with trains. I am not sure how it works but they are certainly clever to create a one bridge for vehicles and train. We were constantly amazed at the excellent road work through out the entire island. They keep the roads in good shape and continually keeping the road markings current. We made a lunch stop at spot on the west coast. The kids had fun climbing on the rocks. Logan and I got our picture taken just a big wave headed towards us. We escaped without getting wet though. We enjoyed stretching our legs until the sandflies enjoyed biting us! Ouch, they are tiny little bugs worse than mozzies! The next stop was Punakaiki, know for the Pancake Rocks and Blowholes. These limestone formed rocks have formed into what looks like thin pancakes. And depending on the tide the water flows into caverns and is forced up into geyser like blowholes! I was amazed at seeing the forceful nature of the water. When a large wave hit you could actually fill the earth move! There were other stops that we could have made but we still had several hours before reaching Franz Joseph Glacier so the rest of the family was glad that the wheels kept turning!

The beautiful vineyards south of Nelson