The rainy and windy west coast

Hello dear ones,

Here I am again. I just realized with great joy that there is a computer in my hostel, and since it's raining outside and everything is closed because it's winter..., I'm not missing out on anything.

As promised, this blog entry is about Hokitika. The jade capital of New Zealand, located on the extremely windy and rainy west coast of the South Island. Yesterday (14.09) I arrived in Hokitka at 1 pm. My hostel was located directly on the main road across from the information center and in the same building as a jade workshop. It's pretty awesome. Unfortunately, no one was at the hostel at that time, so I couldn't check in yet. At the information center, they recommended a scenic drive to Hokitika Gorge, a gorge with a river of ice-blue water, if the weather permits. I combined this excursion with a drive around Lake Kaniere, a very beautiful lake with several short hikes and a waterfall. Then I went to the gorge, where the water still had an impressive color. It reminded me a bit of ice candy. Unfortunately, it started raining there, so the camera had to wait in the car, but I hope you'll like the photos taken with my phone.

Afterwards, I returned to Hokitika where I was able to check in at my hostel. Once again, I was lucky to have a room for myself. Very relaxing. After unpacking my car, I strolled through the shops a bit, because even in Hokitika, the sidewalks are rolled up at 5 pm in winter. When I returned to the hostel, I discovered that you could look into the neighboring jade factory from the hostel. I thought that was pretty cool. The rest of the evening was relatively uneventful, and I went to bed early.

Accordingly, I woke up early today (15.09) and was able to take a walk through the town to the beach before I had to check out and before it started raining. I don't know what it is, but the sea fascinates me. Whether it's a typical beach day with blue skies, or like today, an extremely windy and gray day. After having my fill of the sea and with my checkout time approaching, I walked back to the hostel and finished packing before checking out. Next, I was off to Franz Josef Glacier. On the way there, just as I was turning towards a beautiful lake, unfortunately, my car window decided to stop working and wouldn't go back up. So I had to drive back to Hokitika with an open window in cold and windy weather, and with rain looming, to find a workshop. After being turned away by two workshops, one because they were too busy, and one because it was lunchtime, I called the New Zealand AA (AA), the equivalent of the ADAC, and explained my predicament to them. After about 10 minutes, a friendly man came and tried to close the window, but unfortunately, it didn't work at the gas station where I had sought refuge. So we drove to his workshop. They then dismantled the interior of the door and found that the motor responsible for raising and lowering the window was broken. After closing the window, they removed the motor so that I wouldn't accidentally touch it, and sent me on my way again. Meanwhile, it started pouring rain. After a short time, something still felt off about the window, so I turned around and drove back to the workshop. And indeed, my bad feeling was confirmed. Since they had removed the motor, the window was no longer supported and could have fallen down at any time. They prevented this by screwing a piece of wood into the door instead of the motor. Now the window was finally secure and I could finally continue on my way.

The rest of the journey, despite the rain and the previous excitement, was very nice and took me along the coast and through the rainforest, among other things. In my new hostel, I am accommodated in a triple room, even though I booked a room for eight. Woo-hoo, and so far I'm the only one in my room. Another plus is that they serve both breakfast and a vegetarian soup in the evening here. And all of this for a very reasonable price.

Tomorrow, I will explore the Franz Josef Glacier. I can't tell you exactly how yet, as the tourist information is already closed, but I'm sure I'll have a nice day tomorrow.

See you soon,

Your Jessi